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PHILADELPHIA 



« ilippiucotfs 

Cabinet fiistarits of t^t Itati 



CONNECTICUT. 



THE 



HISTORY OF COMECTICUT, 



FROM ITS 



(PnrliBst Iritkmi^Ht tn tliB ^xnmt €mh 



EDITED BY 

W. H. CARPENTER, 



T. S. ARTHUR. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 

1854. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by 

T. S. ARTHUR AND W. H. CARPENTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 






PUBLISHERS' PREFACE. 



There are but few persons in this country who 
have not, at some time or other, felt the want of an 
accurate, well written, concise, yet clear and reliable 
history of their own or some other state. 

The want here indicated is now about being sup- 
plied; and, as the task of doing so is no light or 
superficial one, the publishers have given into the 
hands of the two gentlemen whose names appear in 
the title-page, the work of preparing a series of Cabi- 
net Histories, embracing a volume for each state in 
the Union. Of their ability to perform this well, we 
need not speak. They are no strangers in the literary 
world. What they undertake the public may rest 
assured will be performed thoroughly ; and that no 
sectarian, sectional, or party feelings will bias their 
judgment, or lead them to violate the integrity of 
history. 

The importance of a series of state histories like 
those now commenced, can scarcely be estimated. 
Being condensed as carefully as accuracy and interest 
of narrative will permit, the size and price of the 
volumes will bring them within the reach of every 
family in the country, thus making them home-read- 
ing books for old and young. Each individual will, 

1* 5 



6 publishers' preface. 



in consequence, become familiar, not only with the 
history of his own state, but with that of other states : 
— thus mutual interest will be re-awakened, and old 
bonds cemented in a firmer union. 

In this series of Cabinet Histories, the authors, 
while presenting a concise but accurate narrative of 
the domestic policy of each state, will give greater 
prominence to the personal history of the people. 
The dangers which continually hovered around the 
early colonists ; the stirring romance of a life passed 
fearlessly amid peril; the incidents of border war- 
fare; the adventures of hardy pioneers; the keen 
watchfulness, the subtle surprise, the ruthless attack, 
and prompt retaliation — all these having had an im- 
portant influence upon the formation of the American 
character, are to be freely recorded. While the progres- 
sive development of the citizens of each individual state 
from the rough forest-life of the earlier day to the 
polished condition of the present, will exhibit a pic- 
ture of national expansion as instructing as it is inte- 
resting. 

The size and style of the series will be uniform 
with the present volume. The authors, who have 
been for some time collecting and arranging materials, 
will furnish the succeeding volumes as rapidly as their 
careful preparation will warrant. 



PREFACE. 



This volume presents, within as small a com- 
pass as was consistent with clearness of expression, 
a narrative of the events which have occurred 
within the limits of Connecticut, adapted to the 
wants of all those who cherish a respect for the 
patriotism of their ancestors, or who desire a 
knowledge of the leading facts in the history of 
the State. 

The honourable example of the small band of 
exiles by whom it was first founded, alike sturdy 
in defence of their religious creed and their po- 
litical independence, fostered that brave and 
uncompromising spirit in their successors which 
was displayed in their opposition to the encroach- 
ments of the mother country, and which still 



8 PREFACE. 



more signally manifested itself during the War 
of the Kevolution. 

In reciting the progress of these events, all 
the prominent incidents, prior to and connected 
with so glorious a struggle, as well as those 
which have occurred in the subsequent history 
of the State, will be found accurately recorded. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Adriaen Blok discovers and explores Connecticut River — As- 
pect of the country — Contemporaneous explorations of 
Captain John Smith — New England so named by Smith — 
Plymouth council established — Settlement of New England 
influenced by the persecution of the Puritans — Enactments 
against Puritanism during the reign of James the First — 
Puritan exiles settle in Amsterdam — Motives which in- 
duced them to remove to New England — Their voyage in 
the Mayflower — New Plymouth founded — Sufferings of the 
colonists — Emigrations to New' . England continue — Com- 
pany of Massachusetts Bay obtains a charter — Rapid 
growth of the new colony planted under its protection — 
Early grants of Connecticut to Earl Warwick, and to Lords 
Say and Brooke — Boundai-ies according to the original 
patent — Dutch traders on the Connecticut — River Indians 
invite the English to trafiic — House of Good Hope built by 
the Dutch, near Hartford — Plj'^mouth people establish a 
trading-house at Windsor — Governor of Ncav Netherlands 
sends a force to drive them away — Failure of this new ex- - 
pedition — English and Dutch claims upon Connecticut — 
Lord Say and his associate propose to settle there — Rea- 
sons for their abandonment of that project — Winthrop and 
others arrive at Boston as commissioners for Say and 
Brooke — Fort Saybrook built at the mouth of the Con- 
necticut Page 19 

CHAPTER IL 

Reverend Thomas Hooker — Silenced for nonconformity — 
Flies from England to Holland — Afi"ection of his congrega- 
tion for him — They emigrate to New England — Solicit 
Hooker to join them — He arrives at Boston in company 
with Stone and Haynes — Charmed by reports of the ferti- 
lity of Connecticut, Hooker's people determine to emigrate 
there — General court of Massachusetts objects — Renew 
their petition in the spring of 1635 — Permission granted 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 



them to emigrate — Pioneer companies plant Windsor, Hart- 
ford, and Wethersfield — Early and severe winter — SuflFer- 
ing of the colonists — Many compelled to return to Massa- 
chusetts — Trials of those left behind — Representative court 
established in the spring of 1636 — First meeting of the 
court — Hooker and his congregation set out from Cam- 
bridge — Difficulties of their journey — They purchase lands 
at Hartford — Division of lands — Activity of the colonists 
— Windsor and Wethersfield receive new accessions — 
Churches formed — Difficulties between the Windsor people 
and the Plymouth colony — Fort Saybrook completed.. Pagre 35 

CHAPTER III. 

Renewed trials — Prospect of an Indian war — Indians of Con- 
necticut — River tribes — Mohegans — Pequods — Population 
— Origin of the Pequod war — Captain Stone killed by the 
Pequods — Oldham murdered by the Block Island Indians 
— Massachusetts despatches Endicott against them — He 
destroys their villages — Proceeds to Thames River^ — Calls 
upon the Pequods to surrender the murderers of Stone — 
His demand being refused, he burns two of their villages 
— Exasperation of the Pequods — They lurk around Fort 
Saybrook — Colonists massacred — Fortitude and death of 
John Tilley — Outhouses of the fort destroyed — Party under 
Lieutenant Gardiner attacked — Alarm of the Connecticut 
towns — Regulations adopted to prevent surprise — Indians 
attack Wethersfield — Connecticut towns raise troops — 
Headed by Mason, they depart against the Pequods — 
Cruelty of the Mohegan auxiliaries — Narraganset warriors 
join the expedition — Mason advances into the Pequod 
country — Attacks and burns Fort Mistic — Terrible slaugh- 
ter of the Indians — Pursuit of the fugitives— Close of the 
war 



CHAPTER IV. 

Effect of the war on the Indians — Subsequent distress of the 
colonists — First public tax levied — Settlement of New 
Haven as an independent colony — Plantation covenant — 
Lands purchased from the natives — City of New Haven 
laid out — Planters of Connecticut frame a constitution — 
Its liberal character — First assembly meets — John Haynes 
governor — Primary code of laws enacted — Town of Say- 
brook founded — Proceedings of the constitutional conven- 
tion of New Haven — Scriptural character of the constitution 
framed by it — Eaton governor of New Haven — Davenport's 



47 



CONTENTS. 11 



charge to the governor — New towns planted — Connecticut 
colony's difficulty with Sequeen, sachem of the River In- 
dians — Singular decision of the Massachusetts elders — Ex- 
pedition against the Pequods — Hopkins governor — New 
towns planted — Governor of New Netherlands complains 
of JEnglish encroachments — New Haven sends out colonists 
to the Delaware — They commence settlements there — 
Dutch governor protests — Sends troops to destroy the new 
plantations — Complete success of the expedition — New Ha- 
ven remonstrates — Second code of laws in Connecticut..Pa^e 63 

CHAPTER V. 

Confederation of the New England colonies — Quarrel of Uncas 
and Miantonimo — Colonies side with Uncas — Miantonimo 
attacks him — Is defeated and taken captive — Claims the 
protection of the English — Colonial commissioners condemn 
him to death — He is executed by Uncas — Miantonimo's 
tribe persist in making war upon Uncas — Threatened by 
the colonies, they agree to a treaty of peace — DifiBculties 
with the governor of New Netherlands — Cheerless opening 
of the year 1644 — Monthly fast proclaimed — Road ordered 
to be laid out from Boston to the Connecticut — Saybrook 
purchased by Connecticut — New Haven people appoint an 
agent to apply for a charter — Their losses in planting — 
They fit out a vessel to trade with England — Vessel sails 
with the charter agent on board — Is never heard of again 
— Gloom of the colonists — Death and character of Hooker 
— New London settled by Winthrop — Disputes between 
Connecticut and Massachusetts — Pequods placed under 
English protection — Renewed diflBculties with the govern- 
ment of New Netherlands — Temporarily arranged by a 
treaty with Stuyvesant 77 

CHAPTER VI. 

First complete code of Connecticut laws — Penalties inflicted 
upon the irreligious — Regulations for the support of religion 
— Recommendations for christianizing the Indians — Efforts 
of Elliott — Free-school system fostered — Penalties of lying 
— Use of tobacco restricted — Debtors saleable — Negro 
slavery — Regulation in regard to courtship and marriage 
— Renewed attempt of New Haven to plant on the Dela- 
ware — Emigrants seized by Stuyvesant — England and 
Holland at war — Massachusetts refuses to join the other 
colonies against New Netherlands — Indignation of Con- 
necticut and New Haven — They solicit the aid of Crom- 
well — Death of Haynes — Peace between England and 



12 CONTENTS. 



Holland — House of Good Hope seized by Connecticut-— 
Harmony restored to the New England confederacy — John 
Winthrop governor — Death of Eaton — Newman governor 
of New Haven — Death of Hopkins — His liberality — Church 
dissensions — Law against Quakers — Lenient treatment of 
the Quakers in Connecticut and New Haven — Severity of 
Massachusetts — Wells governor — Re-election of Winthrop 
— Change in the rule with regard to the election of go- 
vernors .^ Pa;j& 91 

CHAPTER VIL 

Charles II. King of England — GofFe and Whalley arrive at 
Boston — Their arrest ordered — They fly to New Haven — 
Are pursued — New Haven authorities refuse a warrant for 
their arrest — They are secretly favoured by the colonists — 
Finally escape to Hadley — Course of Governor Leet cen- 
sured by Massachusetts — Dislike of the New Haven people 
for Charles II. — Their reluctance to acknowledge him king 
— Connecticut applies for a charter — Winthrop is ajDpointed 
agent in procuring it — His character — His success — Demo- 
cratic character of the charter — New Haven included in it 
— People of that colony cling to their independence — Com- 
plain against the Connecticut authorities — Winthrop's letter 
on the subject — His return — His moderation and prudence 
— War between England and Holland — New Netherlands 
conquered by the English — Royal commissioners arrive at 
Boston — Consequent alarm of the colonists — New Haven 
yields jurisdiction to Connecticut — Day of thanksgiving 
appointed — Political advantages of the colony — Its tolera- 
tion — Rapid increase of population — Domestic character- 
istics of the people — Economy in government — Town 
meetings — Their character — Their records 99 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Prosperity of Connecticut — Apprehension of trouble — The 
Duke of York claims jurisdiction to the Connecticut — Ed- 
mund Andross governor of the duke's province — Embarks 
to seize Port Saybrook — Connecticut militia sent to oppose 
him — He attempts to assume authority — Is overawed by 
the determined conduct of Cajitain Bull — Retiirns to New 
York — King Philip's war — Its origin — Massacre at Swan- 
zey — Philip a fugitive — Frontier towns of Massachusetts 
destroyed — Fearful character of the war — Exemption of 
Connecticut from its immediate horrors — Preparations for 
defence — Expedition against the Narragansets — Their fort 



CONTENTS. 13 



attacked — Their obstinate resistance — Colonists finally vic- 
torious — Narraganset fort burned — Connecticut captains 
killed in the fight — Sufferings of the fugitive Indians — 
Their despair and fury — Connecticut volunteer companies 
— Canouchet captured by Captain Denison's men — His 
execution — Pursuit of Philip — He is shot by one of his own 
tribe — Death of Winthrop — William Leet governor — State 
of the colony in 1680 — Rogerenes Pa^e 112 



CHAPTER IX. 

Robert Treat governor — Territorial dispute with Rhode Island 
— Conduct of that colony — Dispute finally terminates unfa- 
vourably to Connecticut — James 11. King of England — 
His scheme to consolidate the New England colonies — Quo 
warrantos served upon Connecticut — Prudent course of the 
assembly — Andross appointed governor of New England — 
Meets the Connecticut assembly — Demands the charter — 
It is secretly borne away — Andross assumes authority — 
Ends the records of the assembly — Revolution in England 
— Andross's authority overthrown — Connecticut charter 
reproduced — Assembly addresses King William — English 
lawyers declare the charter of Connecticut unimpaired — 
War between France and England — French and Indian 
war parties attack the frontiers of New York and Massa- 
chusetts — Expeditions against Canada — Their ill success 
— Designs of the English crown upon the liberties of Con- 
necticut — Fletcher commissioned to command its militia — 
Opposition of the assembly — Winthrop bears a petition to 
the king — Rage of Fletcher — He attempts to assume com- - 
mand of the troops — Is thwarted by the courage of Captain 
Wadsworth — Course of Connecticut sustained by the crown 
lawyers — Rejoicing in consequence — Winthrop returns — 
His reception — Peace 125 



CHAPTER X. 

Fitz-John Winthrop governor — Yale College founded — 1» 
removed to New Haven — Hartford and New Haven esta- 
blished as the colonial capitals — Charges against the colo- 
nies — Bill to abrogate their charters — Defence of Connecticut 
— Withdrawal of the obnoxious bill — War between Eng- 
land, France and Spain — Attempt of Cornbury and Dudley 
to abridge the liberties of Connecticut — Charges brought 
against the colony — Its vindication and triumph — Dudley 
renews his attacks upon the colon^y — Promotes the claims 
of the heirs of Major Mason — Long-continuance of the 

2 



14 



CONTENTS. 



Mason controversy— Is finally decided in favour of the 
colony— Death of Wintlirop— Saltonstall governor— Pro- 
gress of the -war— Invasion of Canada projected— Design 
abandoned — Successful expedition against Acadia— Re- 
newed attempt to conquer Canada— Its failure— Disap- 
pointment of the colonies— Peace— Condition of Connecti- 
, cut— Boundary dispute with Massachusetts settled.... Pr^ye 137 

CHAPTER XL 

Decline in morals— Consequent action of the assembly— Re- 
newed attempts to abridge the charters of New England- 
Liberality of Governor Saltonstall— Proposed union of 
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, into one 
royal province— Spirited refusal of the colonists— Talcott 
and Law governors— Political quiet— Religious contro- 
versies—War between England and France— New England 
colonies resolve upon the conquest of Louisburg— Expedi- 
tion prepared— Departs— Arrives before Louisburg— Troops 
effect a landing— Royal battery taken— Labours of the 
siege— French reinforcements captured— Colonists repulsed 
m an assault on the island battery— Preparations to storm 
the city— Louisburg capitulates— Rejoicings of the colo- 
nists—French iJian an invasion of New England — Colonies 
prepare to conquer Canada— Project abandoned— Alarm 
caused by a French squadron — Peace 150 

CHAPTER XIL 

Prosperity of Connecticut— Towns of Enfield, "Woodstock, 
Somers, and Dufiield received under the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut— Governors Wolcott and Fitch— Difficulties 
between England and France— Hostilities commenced— 
Plan of colonial union proposed— Rejected by the colonies 
and the Lords of Trade— Campaign of 1775— Israel Putnam 
—Sketch of his life— His character— His adventure with 
the wolf— Victory of Lake George— Honour of it claimed 
for Lyman of Connecticut— Defeat of Braddock— Failure 
of Shirley— Campaign of 1756— Loudoun appointed com- 
mander-in-chief—Oswego captured by the French— Shame- 
^ful close of the campaign— Campaign of 1756— Expedition 
set on foot against Louisburg— Loudoun's inactivity at 
Halifax— Returns to New York— Montcalm descends upon 
Fort William Henry— Putnam informs Webb, at Fort Ed- 
ward, of Montcalm's approach— Vacillating conduct of 
Webb— Surrender of .AIu nro— Massacre of the English pri- 
soners attempted— Heroism of Montcalm— Alarm of the 
colonies— Promptness of Connecticut— Fort Edward saved 
by the daring energy of Putnam 161 



CONTENTS. 15 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Campaign of 1758 — Energetic course of Pitt — Popularity of 
his measures — Louisburg captured — Abercrombie advances 
against Ticonderoga — Lord Howe killed — Abercrombie de- 
feated — Frontenac surprised by Bi-adstreet — Fort Duquesne 
abandoned by the French — Perilous adventure of Putnam 
— He is captured by the Indians — Is saved from torture 
and death by Molang — Molang sends him a prisoner to 
Montcalm — Colonel Schuyler procures his exchange — Cam- 
paign of 1759 — Niagara surrendered to the English — Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point abandoned by the French — 
Amherst takes possession of the deserted posts — Quebec 
taken by Wolfe — Campaign of 1760 — Three English armies 
advance upon Montreal — Putnam at the capture of Fort 
Oswegatchie — His important services in that affair — Mon- 
treal surrenders — Final conquest of Canada — Benedict 
Arnold — His character — Anecdotes of him — Enlists in the 
army, and is stationed at Ticonderoga — His desertion. .Pa(/e 173 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Spain joins France against England — Expedition against Ha- 
vana — Putnam joins it — Transport bearing the Connecticut 
regiment driven on a reef — Escape of all on board — Havana 
taken — Great mortality among the provincial troops — 
Peace of Fontainebleau — Wyoming settled by Connecticut 
emigrants — Jurisdiction claim of Connecticut — Wyoming 
settlers driven away by the Indians — Stamp Act proposed 
— Alarm of the colonies — Colonel Barre's reply to Towns- 
hend — Stamp Act passed — Course of Governor Fitch — Of 
Trumbull and Putnam — National Congress assembles — Its 
action — Proceedings approved by Connecticut — "Sons of 
Liberty" — Ingersoll's address to the Connecticut people — 
Stamp Act a nullity — It is repealed — Rejoicings in Con- 
necticut — Sad accident at Hartford — Townshend's revenue 
bill passed — Action of the colonies — Pitkin governor of 
Connecticut — Townshend's bill repealed — Wyoming re- 
occupied by emigrants from Connecticut — Collisions with 
the Pennsylvanians — Connecticut people triumphant — 
Assumption of jurisdiction by Connecticut 186 

CHAPTER XV. 

Tax on tea rendered nugatory by non-importation agreements 
■^Parliament attempts to force tea into America — Opposi- 
tion of the colonies — Tea destroyed at Boston — Rage of 



16 CONTEXTS. 



the ministers — Port of Boston doped — >7;itionfiI Congress 
of 1774 — Action of the Connecticut assembly — Battle of 
Lexington — Boston invested — Patriotism of Putnam — Ar- 
nold before Boston — Zeal of Governor Trumbull — Of the 
Connecticut assembly — Connecticut during the war — Alien 
and Arnold at the capture of Ticonderoga — Enterprise of 
Arnold — Complaints of his enemies — Throws up his com- 
mission — Putnam at the battle of Bunker Hill — Washing- 
ton commander-in-chief — Arnold's march through the wil- 
derness to Quebec — Joins Montgomery — Assault on Quebec, 
and death of Montgomery — Arnold maintains the blockade 
of Quebec — Canada evacuated — Ai-nold the last to quit the 
enemy's shores Paye 19S 



CHAPTER XYI. 

Boston evacuated — Declaration of Independence — Battle of 
Brooklyn Heights — Nathan Hale — His patriotism — He is 
captured by the British — Is sentenced to death as a spy — 
Cruelty of his captors — His last words — New York cap- 
tured — Death of Colonel Knowlton — Arnold on Lake Cham- 
plain — Charge of dishonesty preferred against him — Wash- 
ington retreats across the Jerseys — Battles of Trenton and 
Princeton — Neglect of Arnold by Congress — Tryon's attack 
on Danbury — British assailed by the militia — Death of 
Wooster — Bravery of Arnold — Exploit of Colonel Meigs — 
Arnold appointed a major-general — Singular inconsistency 
of Congress — Arnold demands an investigation into his 
ccmduct — Favourable report of the Board of War — Action 
of Congress — Arnold tenders his resignation — At the re- 
commendation of AVashington is sent to the northern army 
— Battles of Behmus' Heights — Surrender of Burgoyne 208 



CHAPTER XVIL 

Effect of Burgoyne's surrender — Arnold raised to his full rank 
— Lord North's conciliatory bills — Alliance with France — 
Battle of Monmouth — Massacre of Wyoming — Close of the 
campaign — Mutiny at Danbury — Putnam's address to the 
troops — Its good eflect — Tryon at Ilorseneck — Perilous 
feat of -Putnam — British operations in the south — Move- 
ments of Clinton — Tryon's attack on New Haven — Murder 
of inhabitants — Patriotism of Rev. Mr. Dagget — Burning 
of Fairtield and Norwalk — Stony Point retaken by Wayne 
— Sullivan's expedition against the Indians 220 



CONTENTS. 17 



CHAPTER XYIIl. 

Campaign of 1780 — South Carolina invaded — Fall of Charles- 
ton — Defeat of Gates — Gloomy aspect of affairs — Arnold at 
Philadelphia — His quarrel with the Pennsylvania authori- 
ties — Tried by court-martial — Sentenced to a reprimand 
from the commander-in-chief — Washington's reprimand — 
Mortification of Arnold — His extravagance — Its result — 
Treason of Arnold — Execution of Andre — Arnold in Vir- 
ginia — Campaign of 1781 — Greene in South Carolina — Corn- 
wallis concentrates his troops at Yorktown — Arnold's attack 
on New London — Massacre of the garrison of Fort Gris- 
wold — New London bui-ned — Surrender of Cornwallis- — 
Subsequent life of Arnold — His death at London Page 232 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Negotiations for peace — Settlement of the jurisdiction dispute 
between Connecticut and Pennsylvania — Dissatisfaction of 
the "Wyoming colonists — Peace — Condition of the country 
— Slavery abolished in Connecticut — Griswold and Hu^i- 
tiiigdon governors — Cession of public lands — Connecticut 
reserve sold — Permanent common-school fund established 
— Proposed federal impost — New York refuses to sanction 
it^ — National convention recommended — Meeting of the 
convention — Character of the delegates — Roger Sherman — 
Proceedings of the convention — Struggle between the larger » 
and smaller states — Sherman procures a committee of con- 
ference — Franklin's proposition — Northern and southern 
parties — Connecticut delegates act as compromisers — New 
diflBculties between the north and south — Third great com- 
promise of the constitution — Constitution signed — Gloomy 
presentiments 243 



CHAPTER XX. 

Ratification of the constitution by Connecticut — Federal and 
Republican parties — Political complexion of Connecticut — 
Amendments of the constitution adopted — "Washington 
elected president — New partisan difi'erences — Contest be- 
tween the administration and Genet — Public sentiment in 
Connecticut — Governors "Wolcott and Trumbull — Difiicul- 
ties with France — Alien and sedition acts — Fall of the Fe- 
deralists — Foreign relations of the United States — British 
orders in council — Berlin and Milan decrees — Effect of 

2* 



18 CONTENTS. 



tbese measures — Assumptions of Great Britain — Adoption 
of the embargo — Denounced by the New England states — 
Address of Governor Trumbull — Action of the legislature 
— Repeal of the embargo — Continued aggressions of Eng- 
land — Declaration of war Pcuje 255 



CHAPTER XXI. 

New England peace party — Contest between the executives 
of Connecticut and the United States — Governor Griswold 
refuses to yield the command of the militia to officers of 
the regular service — General assembly approves his course 
— Law for a provisional army in Connecticut — Federal tri- 
umphs — John Cotton Smith, governor — Progress of the war 
— Captain Isaac Hull — Militia called out to defend the 
United States ships of war — Report of a joint committee 
of the assembly against withdrawing the regular troops 
from the seaboard — Peace party losing strength — Origin of 
tho term "blue-light federalist" — Shipping destroyed at 
Saybrook — British repulsed in an attack on Stonington — 
Conscription and minor enlistment bills — Denounced by 
the Connecticut assembly — Hartford convention called — 
Meeting of the convention — Outline of its report — State 
law relative to the enlistment of minors — Peace 264. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Reviving effects of peace — Decline of the Federal party in 
Connecticut — " Toleration party" — Triumph of the " Tole- 
rationists" — Oliver Wolcott governor — Constitutional con- 
vention called — Constitution sanctioned by the people — 
Changes made by it — Disorganization of parties — Wolcott 
the first governor under the constitution — Is succeeded by 
Gideon Tomlinson — Charles H. Pond, the present execu- 
tive — Statistics of education — Of benevolent and other in- 
stitutions — Of religion — Agriculture — Manufactures — Com- 
merce — Mineral resources of the state — Internal improve- 
ments — Banking capital — State debt — Population 277 



HISTORY OF COMECTICUT. 



CHAPTER I. 



Adriaen Blok discovers and explores Connecticut River — As- 
pect of the country — Contemporaneous explorations of Cap- 
tain Jolin Smith — New^ England so named by Smith — 
Plymouth council established — Settlement of New England 
influenced by the persecution of the Puritans — Enactments 
against Puritanism during the reign of James the First — Pu- 
ritan exiles settle in Amsterdam — Motives which induced 
them to remove to New^ England — Their voyage in the May- 
flower — New Plymouth founded — Sufferings of the colonists 
— Emigrations to New England continue — Company of 
Massachusetts Bay obtains a charter — Rapid growth of the 
new colony planted under its protection — Early grants of 
Connecticut to Earl Warwick, and to Lords Say and Brooke 
■ — Boundaries according to the original patent — Dutch traders 
on the Connecticut — River Indians invite the English to 
traffic — House of Good Hope built by the Dutch, near Hart- 
ford — Plymouth people establish a trading-house at Windsor 
— Governor of New Netherlands sends a force to drive them 
away — Failure of this new expedition — English and Dutch 
claims upon Connecticut — Lord Say and his associate pro- 
pose to settle there — Reasons for their abandonment of that 
project — Winthrop and others arrive at Boston as commis- 
sioners for Say and Brooke — Fort Saybrook built at the 
mouth of the Connecticut. 

Early in the year 1614, the States-General 
of the Netherlands promised, to such of their 
citizens as should discover new lands, an exclu- 

19 



20 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1614. 

sive privilege of trade to them for four successive 
voyages. On the strength of this promise, a 
company of merchants residing at Amsterdam 
fitted out five ships to explore the coasts of 
North America. Commanding one of the ves- 
sels composing this fleet, which presently crossed 
the Atlantic in safety, was Captain Adriaen 
Blok, a navigator of no little skill and enter- 
prise. 

Soon after the arrival of Blok at Manhattan 
Island, on the southern extremity of which the 
Dutch had erected a rude fort during the pre- 
vious year, his vessel, by some accident, caught 
fire and was destroyed. Repairing this loss, by 
building on the co,rst a small yacht, which he 
called the «' Restless," Blok, some time during 
the summer, sailed on a voyage of discovery 
throuo'h the East River into Long; Island Sound. 

Coasting along the northern shore of New 
Endand, he discovered the outlets of two con- 
siderable streams. Entering the largest of these, 
he named it Fresh River, in contrast to the 
Hudson, whose waters were salt. Its Indian 
name was Quonehtacut, or Connecticut — that is, 
Long River. 

Up this broad and gently-flowing stream, Blok 
slowly sailed to a point some fifty miles from the 
sea, and a little above where the city of Hart- 
ford now stands. The aspect of the country 
through which he passed was in the highest 



1614.] VOYAGE OF BLOK. 21 

degree pleasant and attractive. On either side 
of the river Avere beautiful meadows with a soil 
of surpassing richness, and covered with tall and 
luxuriant grasses down to the very edge of the 
water. Here and there over these natural mea- 
dows, and along the margin of the stream, were 
delightful clusters of vine-clad trees ; under the 
shade of wdiich were built the cabins or wigwams 
of the harmless and unwarlike Indian tribes, by 
whom this portion of the Connecticut valley was 
peopled. Back from the river, and beyond the 
almost level meadow lands, the ground began to 
ascend by gentle undulations. Here the trees 
grew taller and closer togedier; and, at length, 
climbing the distant hills that formed the line 
of the horizon, they presented the appearance 
of a dense and unbroken forest. Corn, hemp, 
»and an infinite variety of fruits and medicinal 
herbs, were found abundantly in the fields and 
the woods. Game of all kinds swarmed in the 
forest, and the river w^as alive with fish. Such, 
in part, were the natural beauties and advan- 
tages of the valley of the Connecticut, which 
Blok was the first of white men to see and 
admire. 

Having lingered on the Connecticut long 
enough to complete a map of its explored course, 
Blok again dropped down to the ocean, and con- 
tinued his voyage eastward to Cape Cod, in the 
mean time discovering and exploring Narra- 



22 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1614. 

ganset Bay. Block Island still perpetuates his 
name and the memory of these explorations. 
From Cape Cod he probably retmmed to Man- 
hattan, whence a map, exhibiting the discoveries 
he had made, was forwarded to the States- 
General. 

Upon this voyage of Blok, and upon a previous 
one made by Hendrik Hudson, the Dutch based 
their pretensions to that part of the American 
coast included between the fortieth and forty- 
fifth parallels of north latitude. It will presently 
be seen with what success these pretensions Avere 
urged. 

At the very time when Blok was prosecuting 
his discoveries, Captain John Smith, the founder 
of Virginia, and the adventurous representative 
of a sturdy and energetic race, was exploring 
that portion of our eastern seaboard lying be- 
tween the Penobscot and Cape Cod. Returning 
home, Smith published an account of his voyage, 
toccether with a chart of the coasts he had visited. 
To the region thus described he gave the name 
New England — a name bestowed upon it con- 
temporaneously w^ith that of New Netherlands 
by the Dutch, and one, too, which it has ever 
since retained. 

Previous to this visit of Smith to New Eng- 
land, several unsuccessful attempts had been 
made to establish settlements there. Beanimated 
by the glowing pictures he presented of the 



1620.] PLYMOUTH COMPANY. 23 

country, the Plymouth Company, to whom eight 
years before it had been patented by James I. 
of England, once more exerted themselves to 
throw into it a body of colonists. Nearly six 
years elapsed, however, and no visible success 
had attended their efforts. But, although un- 
fortunate in one attempt to plant a colony. Smith 
was as sanguine as ever. 

His enthusiasm was contagious. Forming 
schemes of colonization upon a gigantic scale, 
the Plymouth Company applied for, and finally 
obtained, on the 3d of November, 1620, a new, 
distinct, and extraordinary patent. By the au- 
thority of King James, forty of the richest and 
most powerful of the English nobility were in- 
corporated as "The Council established at Ply- 
mouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, 
ruling, and ordering of New England in Ame- 
rica." By this grant, upon which were based 
all the other grants made to the New England 
colonies, a territory was conferred upon the 
patentees, with uncontrolled sovereignty and un- 
limited jurisdiction, extending in breadth from 
the latitude of Philadelphia to that of Passama- 
quoddy Bay, and in length from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific ; excepting, however, such places 
"as were actually possessed by any other Chris- 
tian prince or people." 

In the mean time, however, a people, whom 
persecution had driven from their native land, 



24 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1620. 

were preparing to accomplish what this powerful 
and opulent company might have failed in. A 
permanent settlement was already being planted 
in New England. 

Springing up with the Reformation, Puritan- 
ism had continued to flourish in the midst of 
many unfavourable circumstances. Driven out 
of England by severe penal laws, enacted during 
the latter half of the sixteenth century, a nume- 
rous company of its professors had collected, 
about the year 1600, at Amsterdam, hoping to 
be recalled to their native land by the successor 
of Queen Elizabeth. 

But if James ever sincerely preferred a Pres- 
byterian to an Episcopal establishment, as the 
Puritans were at one time sanguine enough to 
believe, his accession to the throne of England 
materially modified that preference. Under an 
enactment against Nonconformists, passed early 
in his reign, the most pious and learned persons 
were subjected to fines and imprisonment, and 
to punishments of distressing severity. Attacked 
by the Court of High Commission — an arbitrary 
tribunal without juries, which wielded a power 
scarcely less terrible than that of the Spanish 
Inquisition — the greater part of the Noncon- 
formist congregations were dissolved, or com- 
pelled to meet in secret. 

Some out of these congregations, however, 
sought in strange lands that freedom of worship 



1620.] THE i' PILGRIMS." 25 

■whicli they could not obtain in their own. Among 
these was a portion of the church members under 
the charge of the Rev. John Robinson. Remov- 
ing first to Amsterdam, they at length settled, 
in 1609, at Leyden, where, for a number of 
years, they remained in peace and harmony with 
each other and with the strangers by whom they 
were surrounded. 

Yet, in the mean time, they had become dis- 
satisfied with their condition. Strict in their 
own morals, they regarded with no pleasure the 
less austere manners of the Dutch. Their chil- 
dren, too, were leaving them ; some to become 
soldiers, others sailors, in the service of the 
States-General. At length, in 1617, they began 
to cherish the idea of founding a colony, where, 
being at liberty to worship God according to the 
dictates of conscience, they would, at the same 
time, be able to retain their national traits and 
lano-uage as Ens-lishmen, preserve their offspring 
from evil communications, and promote the dis- 
tribution of "the gospel of the kingdom of 
Christ." 

Having obtained a patent from the Virginia 
Company, together with the promise of King 
James not to molest them in the practice of their 
religion, the greater part of the congregation of 
"Pilgrims" at Leyden, designing to establish an 
independent colony in North America, set out 
from Delft Haven on their voyage across the 



26 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1620. 

Atlantic. Reaching Southampton, in England, 
they stopped there more than a month. In two 
vessels, the Speedwell and the Mayflower, on 
the 5th of August, 1620, they started once more 
on their pilgrimage. Twice they were compelled 
to put back, in consequence of the unfitness of 
the Speedwell. Finally abandoning that vessel, 
the more resolute of the company embarked at 
Plymouth, England, on board the Mayflower; 
and, on the 10th of November, after a long and 
perilous passage, came to anchor within Cape 
Cod. 

As they had arrived at a part of the continent 
not included in their patent from the Virginia 
Company, they thought it best to enter into a 
voluntary agreement to yield their mutual obe- 
dience to such ^'just and equal laws and ordi- 
nances," as should be deemed <'most meet and 
convenient for the general good of the colony." 
After signing a paper to this efi'ect, they elected 
John Carver to be their governor for one year, 
and then set about seeking a suitable place to 
land and commence building a town. 

It was already winter. Exposed to the incle- 
mencies of the season and climate, with many of 
their number ailing seriously,the Pilgrims wandei'- 
ed for five weeks along the coast before a fitting 
site for their proposed settlement could be found. 
This was on the shore of Plymouth Bay, pre- 
viously so named by Smith, on his map of New 



1628.] NEW PLYMOUTH FOUNDED. 27 

England. Landing here, December the 16th, 
1620, they presently began to erect the first 
houses of a town ; which, in grateful remem- 
brance of the kindness they had experienced at 
the place of their final embarkation, they deter- 
mined to call New Plymouth. 

It forms no part of the design of this history 
to relate in detail the occurrences that befell the 
founders of the Plymouth or Old Colony. During 
the first winter of their stay in America, disease, 
the climate, hardships, and famine carried off 
one-half their number ; but the remainder were 
in no way daunted. Clinging resolutely to the 
land of their adoption, they proved that they 
were indeed what they claimed to be, ''men 
whom small things could not discourage, nor 
small discontents cause to wish themselves at 
home again." 

Though ten years after the landing of the 
"Pilgrims" at Plymouth their original number 
had but trebled itself, still the country in their 
neighbourhoo.d was fast filling up with colonists. 
Persecuted continually in England, Puritanism 
sought a refuge on the shores of Massachusetts 
Bay. 

' With this object in view, in 1628, six gentle- 
men of Dorchester, England, procured from the 
council for New England a tract of land, in. 
length from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in 
breadth from three miles south of Charles River 



28 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1630. 

to three miles north of the Merrimac. Three 
of the original company having parted with their 
rights, • John Winthrop, and other persons of 
wealth and influence, became interested in the 
enterprise. ./ 

Already opulent, and possessed of an untiring 
perseverance, equal to their religious zeal and 
fervour in action, the new company determined 
upon immediate colonization. John Endicott — 
"a fit instrument to begin this wilderness work" 
— accompanied by his family and about seventy 
others, accordingly left England in June, 1628. 
In the following September the little band of 
pioneers founded the town of Salem. 

The next year a charter was obtained for the 
new colony, which was constituted a body politic, 
by the name of the " Governor and Company of 
the Massachusetts Bay in New England." From 
this period the settlement of Massachusetts pro- 
gressed rapidly. In 1630, it having been de- 
termined to remove the seat of the corporation 
from England to America, by transferring the 
charter to those who should inhabit the colony, 
Winthrop, the newly-elected governor, together 
with several other gentlemen of means and in- 
fluence, formed the resolution to emigrate. Be- 
fore the close of the year, no less than eleven 
ships, with nearly two thousand colonists, safely 
reached New England. Nine or ten towns, in- 
cluding Boston, were in ■ a short time settled. 



1630.] COLOXIAL BOUXDARIES. 29 

Like their neighbours -of Plymouth, many of 
these emigrants came over in congregations, 
under the charge of their pastors. 

Following out their scheme of extended coloni- 
zation, the council for New England, in 1630, 
granted to Eobert Earl of AVarwIck, and he, in 
the following year, conveyed to Lords Say and 
Brooke, and to eleven others, among whom were 
the afterward celebrated Hampden and Pym, all 
that tract of territory in New England, bound- 
ed on the east by Narraganset Elver, on the 
north by a direct line from the head of that 
stream to the Pacific, and on the south, for a 
hundred and twenty miles, by the coast, and 
thence .hj a direct line to the Western Ocean. 

Such, according to the original patent, ap- 
pears to have been the earliest boundaries of 
Connecticut. Ignorance of the country render- 
ed the statement of them extremely indefinite in 
the patent itself; and this indefiniteness was 
subsequently the cause of much contention. 

Before a colony could be planted under the 
auspices of the lords and gentlemen to whom 
Connecticut was thus conveyed^ circumstances in- 
tervened which rendered it necessary that the 
country should be speedily occupied, or relin- 
quished entirely by its English claimants. 

Almost from the period of Blok's discovery 

of the Fresh or Connecticut Biver, the Dutch 

had carried on a profitable trade with the In- 

3* 



30 HISTORY OP CONNECTICUT. [1631. 

dians occupying its valley. That a valuable 
traffic might be opened there, was made known 
to the English in 1631. During that year, press- 
ed by their enemies the Pequods, the unwarlike 
tribes living upon the Connecticut despatched 
one of their sachems to Boston and Plymouth, 
to induce the governors of the two New Eng- 
land colonies, to send out a company of settlers, 
assisted by whom they secretly hoped to with- 
stand the encroachments of their fiercer neigh- 
bours. Though their ambassador, enlarging 
upon the richness of the country, promised to 
the English a yearly tribute of corn and beaver 
skins, if his proposition was agreed to, the two 
governors gave him no encouragement. ^ 

During the following year, however, a small 
party from Plymouth visited the Connecticut, 
selecting, near the mouth of Earmington River, 
a suitable spot upon which to erect a trading- 
house. "VYinthrop and his council having re- 
jected a proposal that the Massachusetts people 
should unite with those of Plymouth in building 
a house at the point selected, Winslow, the go- 
vernor of Plymouth, resolved to undertake the 
enterprise alone. 

Meanwhile, their Dutch neighbours on Man- 
hattan Island were not idle. The security of 
their valuable traffic with the Connecticut In- 
dians was already a matter of anxiety. From 
the natives, a little piece of land at the mouth 



1633.] EXPEDITION FROM PLYMOUTH. 31 

of Fresh River was purchased, and possession 
of it seemingly made good, by affixing to a tree 
the arms of the States-General. Pushing full 
fifty miles farther up the stream, on its western 
shore, near where Hartford now stands, they 
bought a second strip of territory from Nepu- 
quash, a chief of the Pequods. Here, some 
time in the month of June, 1633, they built, and 
fortified with two pieces of cannon, a small 
trading-post, which they named the '' House of 
Good Hope." 

"While the Dutch were thus preparing to se- 
cure the lucrative traffic of Connecticut, the 
Plymouth people had framed, and made ready 
for immediate erection, the materials of their 
contemplated house at AYindsor. These were 
shipped on board a small vessel, commanded by 
"William Holmes, a resolute and enterprising 
"lieutenant and trader." With a crew as reso- 
lute as himself, and accompanied by several sa- 
chems owning the land it was proposed to occupy, 
Holmes, sailing along the coast, entered the 
Connecticut, and appeared before the House of 
Good Hope, but a short time after its artillery 
had been mounted. As his vessel slowly glided 
in front of the Dutch post, he was hailed by Van 
Curter, the commandant. '' Where would you 
go ?" was the Hollander's inquiry, " Up the 
river to trade." "Strike and stay," shouted 
Van Curter, "or we shall fire!" "We have a 



32 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT. [1633. 

commission from the governor of Plymouth to 
go up the river," replied the undaunted Holmes; 
"and go we will!" The cannon of the Dutch 
were silent, and the English passed on. 

Having arrived just below the mouth of 
Farmington River, Holmes purchased a tract of 
land from the sachems of the River Indians, who 
had accompanied him from Plymouth. The 
trading-house was then set up with all expedi- 
tion, and fortified with palisades. 

In the mean time a sharp remonstrance ar- 
rived from Van Curter. No heed being paid to j 
this, except by an equally sharp reply, Van 
Curter despatched to his superior at Manhattan 
intelligence of the proceedings of the English. 

Van Twiller, the governor of New Nether- 
landsjimmediately sent a force of seventy soldiers 
to the Connecticut, to dislodge Holmes. With > 
a brilliant and warlike display of arms and ban- 
ners, the Dutch detachment made their appear- j 
ance before the English trading-house ; but 
finding the garrison prepared for a desperate 
resistance, they did not deem it expedient to 
make an assault ; and, after a brief conference, 
they withdrew down the river to their own 
post. 

Such was the beginning of that bitter but 
almost bloodless feud, which, for twenty years, 
subsisted between the Dutch colonists of New 
Netherlands and their English neighbours. Each 



1633.] PROPOSED SCHEME OF GOVERNMENT. 33 

party seems to have conscientiously believed the 
Other to be an "intruder ;" but neither could be 
convinced that the offensive name ^vas rightly 
its due. Undoubtedly the Dutch Tvere the first 
to discover and occupy the disputed territory. 
Even while they admitted this, however, the 
English claimed the entire sovereignty of North 
America, on the ground that the discovery of 
the continent by the Cabots, in 1497 and 1498, 
had invested England with its sole and rightful 
possession. 

While the traders of Plymouth and New Ne- 
therlands were thus establishing themselves on 
the Connecticut, Lord Say and his associates 
were arranging matters preparatory to a pro- 
posed removal from England to the territories 
assigned them by Warwick. Happily, this de- 
sign was subsequently abandoned. Say, and 
others of the company, were undoubted friends 
of Puritanism, and of a certain deojree of civil 
liberty ; but they were not men likely to be 
pleased with the notions of freedom and the 
simple manners prevalent in New England. 
They having proposed to establish in America 
an order of nobility and hereditary magistracy, 
the earnest opposition of their more democratic 
associates was aroused. In the discussion that 
ensued, much time was spent ; the ardour with 
wdiich they had entered into the scheme of enii- 
gration began to grow cool ; and, finally, other 



34 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1635. 

objects nearer home attracting their attention, 
the project was wholly abandoned. 

Some time previous to this conclusion, how- 
ever, on the 8th of October, 1635, John Win- 
throp. the younger, Henry Vane, and Hugh 
Peters, arrived at Boston, as commissioners on 
behalf of Say and the other proprietors of Con- 
necticut. Along with ample means for the 
purpose, Winthrop had received instructions to 
take possession of the mouth of Fresh River, 
and erect a fort there. Learning that the Dutch 
entertained a like design, he immediately collect- 
ed, and sent by sea to Connecticut, a small party 
of men, who began, about the middle of No- 
vember, to build Fort Saybrook, near the mouth 
of the river. Considerable progress had been 
made in the work, and two cannon were already 
mounted, when, as was expected, a vessel from 
Manhattan appeared in the stream. Finding 
the object of their expedition anticipated, and 
being forbidden to land, the Dutch reluctantly 
put to sea again. Soon after their departure, 
the little party at Saybrook was joined by David 
Gardiner, an experienced engineer, sent out from 
England by the proprietors. Under his super- 
vision the work of building the fort was pushed 
rapidly toward completion. 



1630.] REV. THOMAS HOOKER. 35 



CHAPTER II. . • 

Eeverend Thomas Hooker — Silenced for nonconformity — Flies 
from England to Holland — Afiection of his congregation 
for him — They emigrate to New England — Solicit Hooker 
to join them — He arrives at Boston in company with Stone 
and Haynes — Charmed by reports of the fertility of Con- 
necticut, Hooker's people determine to emigrate there — Ge- 
neral court of Massachusetts objects — 'Renew their petition 
in the spring of 1635 — Permission granted them to emigrate 
— Pioneer codipanies plant Windsor, Hartford, and Wethers- 
field — Early and severe winter — Suffering of the colonists — 
Many compelled to return to Massachusetts — Trials of those 
left behind — Representative court established in the spring 
of 1636 — First meeting of the court — Hooker and his con- 
gregation set out from Cambridge — Difficulties of their jour- 
ney — They purchase lands at Hartford — Division of lands 
■ — 'Activity of the colonists — Windsor and Wethersfield re- 
ceive new accessions — Churches formed — Difficulty between 
the Windsor people and the Plymouth colony-— Fort Say- 
brook completed. 

During the same year in which the territory 
of Connecticut was granted to the Earl of War- 
wick, the Rev. Thomas Hooker, a minister of 
Chelmsford, in England, having been silenced 
for nonconformity, fled to Holland, in order to 
escape the usual fines and imprisonment to which 
dissenting clergymen were subjected. The learn- 
ing and eloquence of Hooker had gained him 
numerous admirers; but his earnest piety and 
practical benevolence had secured to him what 



36 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1633. 

was still better — many and true-hearted friends, 
eager to remove to any part of the world where 
they might hope to enjoy the guardianship of 
their beloved pastor. New England being now 
the chief asylum of the persecuted Nonconform- 
ists, a considerable portion of Hooker's congre- 
gation, confident of inducing him to join them, 
determined to emigrate there. Accordingly, in 
the year 1632, regardless of the dangers and 
hardships which they were told awaited them, 
they hazarded the storms of the Atlantic, and 
at Cambridge, in Massachusetts, found freedom 
in the practice of their faith and a temporary 
repose from their wanderings. Here they pre- 
sently had the satisfaction of receiving again 
into their company many other members of the 
scattered congregation, who had preceded them 
and settled in various parts of the colony. 

All that the new-comers now wished for was 
the ministerial direction of their cherished pastor. 
To him, therefore, they sent a pressing invita- 
tion, to join them in the wilderness. Yielding 
at once to their desires, in the summer of 1633 
Hooker took passage in the ship Griffin for Ame- 
rica; bavins^ first secured an assistant minister 
in the person of the "godly" Samuel Stone, a 
learned and subtle disputant, and, as Mather 
quaintly remarks, "a man of principles, and, in 
the management of those principles, both a load- 
stone and a flint-stone." Another among the 



1633.] Oldham's report. 37 

two hundred passengers, who crowded the Griffin, 
during her long voyage, was the pure-minded, 
sagacious, tolerant John Haynes, "a gentleman 
of great state" in England, subsequently chief 
magistrate of Massachusetts, and, still later, the 
first governor of Connecticut. 

Landing at Boston, on the 7th of September, 
Hooker did not long delay in joining his expect- 
ant flock. His affectionate people crowded about 
him with the most joyful welcomes. Embracing 
them with open arms, "Now I live," he exclaim- 
ed, in the gladness of his heart ; <« now I live, 
"if ye stand fast in the Lord !" On the 11th of 
the following month a church was constituted, 
of which, after solemn fasting and prayer, Hooker 
was formally ordained pastor, with Stone as his 
assistant teacher. 

It was during this same year, and while the 
agents of New Netherlands and Plymouth were 
fortifying themselves at Hartford and Windsor, 
that John Oldham, a famous Indian trader, with 
three companions, pierced through the w^ilderness 
lying between the then westernmost settlements 
of Massachusetts Bay and the valley of the Con- 
necticut. Returning home, they gave a very 
glowing description of the country they had 
visited ; extolling highly the richness and beauty 
of its meadow lands, and the variety and useful- 
ness of its natui'al productions. Charmed by 
this report, and already straitened for pasture^ 



38 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1634. 

lands, the Cambridge people immediately sent 
out explorers to Connecticut, intending to remove 
there if the accounts they had received of it 
were confirmed. 

The report of these explorers substantially 
verifying that made by Oldham and his com- 
panions, the churches of Cambridge, Dorchester, 
and Watertown at once determined to undertake 
a settlement on the Connecticut. But permis- 
sion to remove was first to be obtained from the 
general court of Massachusetts Bay. Such per- 
mission being applied for in the spring of 1634, 
a feeling of decided opposition was immediately 
manifested. During the summer, discussions as 
to the necessity, expediency, and justice of the 
proposed movement agitated the whole colony. 
Before the general court, which met in Septem- 
ber, Hooker urged at length, and with much 
force, the considerations which, in his opinion, 
rendered it incumbent upon that body to grant 
the liberty asked for by his people. When the 
vote was taken, the deputies who composed a 
majority of the court agreed to authorize the 
removal, but the magistrates were unwilling to 
accede to the request of the petitioners. Angry 
contentions ensued as to the power of the magis- 
trates, under the circumstances, to enforce their 
negative. After a brief adjournment for the 
purpose of solemn and prayerful consideration, 
the reassembled court was addressed by the cele- 



1635.] WETHERSFIELD SETTLED. 39 

brated Cotton, in a sermon strongly favouring 
the negative of the magistrates. Before this 
question could be decided, its discussion was 
temporarily quieted by the Cambridge people 
agreeing to relinquish their contemplated pro- 
ject. 

Five or six of the Watertown people, how- 
ever, had so far completed their arrangements 
for removal, as to be impatient of further delay. 
On foot, and with great difficulty, they pushed 
their steps to the Connecticut. There, probably 
in the present town of Wethersfield, they built 
a few rude huts, sheltered by which they braved 
the severity of the ensuing winter. 

Longing still to plant the pleasant meadows 
of Connecticut, Hooker and his friends, in the 
spring of 1635, again brought before the general 
court their petition of the previous year. On 
this occasion, after considerable difficulty, they 
succeeded in obtaining a favourable response ; 
leave being granted them to emigrate wherever 
they desired, provided they continued under the 
jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 

Immediate preparation was made for the de- 
parture of the pioneers of this new emigration. 
During the summer, several small parties thread- 
ed their devious way to the banks of the Con- 
necticut. But it was not until late in October, 
that the great company of pioneers, sixty in all 
— men, women, and children — had assembled 



40 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1635. 

prior to their final departure. Say's commis- 
sioners having arrived in the mean time, it was 
agreed with them, that, should the lords-pro- 
prietors remove to Connecticut, place was to be 
made for them on the river ; full indemnity 
being guarantied to the settlers for any lands 
they might, in such an exigency, be compelled 
to vacate. 

With this understanding, and having freighted 
several small vessels with their furniture and 
winter supplies, which they found it impracticable 
to carry with them through the wilderness, the 
Connecticut emigrants started upon their toil- 
some journey. Encumbered with their cattle, 
with a faintly-marked path to guide them, and 
delayed by the fording of numerous streams, 
their progress was but slow. After a fortnight's 
wandering, they struck the Connecticut opposite 
the trading-house at Windsor. Here, having 
crossed the river, the party divided. While the 
Dorchester families stopped at Windsor, those 
from Cambridge and Watertown proceeded lower 
down the stream ; the former settling on the site 
of Hartford, and the latter at Wethersfield. 

Unfortunately, the journey of the emigrants 
was begun too late in the year. Scarcely had 
they reached their new homes, when there fell a 
deep snow. Winter immediately set in with 
unusual severity, and much sooner than was ex- 
pected ; and before the vessels, bearing the fur- 



1635.] SUFFERIXGS OF SETTLERS. 41 

niture and stores of the settlers, could enter the 
river, it was frozen up. Thus deprived of nu- 
merous necessaries, and imperfectly sheltered 
by their half-completed cabins, they soon began 
to experience almost the extreme of suffering. 
By the last of November, nearly all their cattle 
had perished. To escape impending starvation, 
a majority of the colonists resolved upon return- 
ing to Massachusetts. With this intention, early 
in December, some fifteen or twenty men started 
on foot through the snowy woods. On their way, 
one of them was lost by breaking through the 
ice in crossing a stream. Saved from perishing 
by the humanity of the Indians, the remainder 
reached their old homes in safety. A second 
company, composed of families, descended on the 
ice to Fort Saybrook, the building of which had 
been commenced about the time of their departure 
from Boston. After considerable difficulty and 
delay, they succeeded in obtaining a passage by 
sea to Massachusetts. 

By the departure of these two companies, 
numbering about eighty persons, the situation 
of the few remaining emigrants was rendered 
comparatively easy. Still they endured much 
that was painful, and were not without cause for 
serious apprehensions. Though the return of 
their friends to Massachusetts had dispelled their 
fears of inevitable starvation, it had yet reduced 
their number to a mere handful, liable at any 

4* 



42 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636. 

moment to be massacred by the savage tribes 
with which they were surrounded. The cabins 
they inhabited afforded but a poor protection 
from the storms of an intensely cold winter. 
Game, too, grew scarce, and then disappeared 
entirely, so severe was the weather. Their other 
provisions having now failed, the unfortunate 
colonists were, for a time, compelled to subsist 
upon acorns gathered from the woods, or upon 
the grain they had brought with them to feed 
the cattle that had perished. 

With the opening of spring, this last, the most 
alarming trial of the emigrants, was brought to 
an end. Cheered by the influences of the 
season, they began to prosecute vigorously the 
design of their coming. A form of government, 
under the general direction of Massachusetts, 
was presently adopted, providing for a repre- 
sentative court, with power to transact the ordi- 
nary business of the colony. This court was to 
be composed of two magistrates from each town ; 
but, on extraordinary occasions, such as the de- 
claring of war and the formation of treaties of 
peace and alliance, committees of three, from 
the several towns, were to act in conjunction 
with the regular magistrates. 

After thus constituting themselves into a body 
politic, the little band of colonists, on the 26th 
of April, 1636, called the first meeting of their 
general court. Six members were present from 



1636.] CAMBRIDGE CONGREGATION EMIGRATE. 43 

the three towns, Roger Ludlow, formerly lieu- 
tenant-governor of Massachusetts, and leader 
of the last year's emigration ; John Steele, "Wil- 
liam Westwood, Andrew Ward, William Phelps, 
and William Swain. All these were persons of 
considerable note and influence. During the 
brief session of the court, various ordinances 
were passed for the regulation and protection of 
the infant settlements, and to prevent the sale 
of arms and ammunition to the Indians. 

Not at all discouraged by their previous ill- 
fortune, and accompanied by many new settlers, 
most of those emigrants who had been compelled 
to abandon the colony during the winter, hasten- 
ed to return when spring was fairly set in, with 
replenished flocks and household stores. These 
were the forerunners of a still greater emigra- 
tion, that of the entire Cambridge congregation 
under Hooker and Stone, the fathers, and next to 
Haynes — now governor of Massachusetts, but soon 
to join the colonists on the Connecticut — the most 
influential friends and promoters of the scheme. 

Early in June, having disposed of their Cam- 
bridge property, this "goodly company," number- 
ing about a hundred souls, men, women, and 
children, began their journey through the rug- 
ged and dangerous forest. The wife of their 
pastor, being ill, had to be carried gently upon a 
litter ; the flocks they drove before them were 
large and troublesome; and many of their 



44 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636. 

number, having lived at home a life of affluent 
ease, were quick to grow weary ; so that the 
seventh day, which was to have terminated their 
wandering, closed over them still in the midst 
of the wilderness. Another week of labour and 
anxiety elapsed before they rested upon ^' the 
delightful banks" of the Connecticut. 

Having arrived at the little collection of 
cabins forming what was subsequently called 
Hartford, after the English birthplace of Stone, 
the Cambridge emigrants bought from Sequassen, 
a great sachem of the Kiver Indians, an area of 
land about six miles square, and extending out 
from and along the west bank of the Connecti- 
cut. This was at once divided into town and 
farm lots. Of the former, which contained each 
about two acres, one was given to every settler, 
whether of the present or of the previous emi- 
gration. The farm lots were ranged around the 
nucleus formed by the town itself, and varied 
in size according to their services, contributions, 
necessities, and sometimes the dignity of those 
to whom they were apportioned. All lots not 
improved, or built upon, within a year's time, 
were to revert to the town. 

But, without this latter stimulant to exertion, 
Hartford is already the scene of active and 
cheerful labour. Not unmindful of the calami- 
ties that had befallen their friends in the pre- 
vious year, the colonists are taking speedy steps 



1636.] ACTIVITY OF THE COLONISTS. 45 

to prevent a repetition of them. Some are fell- 
ing trees, which others hew into massive timbers. 
These again are dragged off by sturdy labourers, 
to be used in constructing the new houses ; rude 
edifices, it may be, but lasting and comfortable, 
and stout defences against the assaults of Indian 
foes. Everywhere the axe, the saw, the ham- 
mer, and the spade are busily plied. There is 
no one idle. Even the women and the little 
children, for whom a school-house is already 
contemplated, find something to keep them em- 
ployed. Upon the outskirts of the rising town 
the cattle are grazing, under the care of watch- 
ful keepers. Farther beyond, some emigrant, 
better to do in the world than his neighbours, 
with oxen and plough prepares his field for the 
future harvest. Not a few others, however, can 
perform this same labour only after the Indian 
manner, by tearing up the bushy soil with their 
hands and hoes. Here and there among the 
industrious labourers, groups of savages, gaudily 
painted and clad in skins, wander lazily about ; 
stopping at intervals to admire the doings of the 
paleface, or to exchange for his beads and 
trinkets the game they bear with them. Even- 
ing coming on, labour ceases. Before their 
tents, or at the houses of their friends who had 
wintered in the wilderness, the weary emigrants 
partake of their evening meal. Presently, un- 
der the open sky, or beneath some branching 



46 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636. 

oak, they meet together to hear the voice of Stone, 
uttering the great truths and consoling words of 
Kevelation. Then, having joined in Hooker's 
<^ rapturous pleadings with God, and praises of 
God," they set their watches for the night, and 
seek a brief repose from the toil and excitement 
of the day. 

In the mean time, above and below Hartford, ' 
at Windsor and Wethersfield, an equally active 
spirit prevailed. New emigrations from Dor- 
chester and Watertown were gradually increasing 
the population of these settlements. In both 
towns churches had been constituted ; but it was 
not until September that the Windsor people Avere 
joined by their pastor, the Kev. Mr. Warham. 
Of this settlement, as being planted on lands 
they had bought of the Indians, the Plymouth 
people complained loudly, demanding from the 
emigrants, as a compensation for the trading- 
house and the lands about it, one hundred pounds 
in money and a sixteenth part of the territory 
itself. This demand was considered too high ; 
and it was not until some time afterward that 
the dispute was quieted by the Plymouth men 
accepting a partial indemnification. 

While thus the interior of the future common- 
wealth was being planted by a pious and labo- 
rious people, Winthrop, in the fulfilment of his 
commission, was providing means for their safety, 
by urging forward the construction of Fort Say- 



1636.] RENEWED TRIALS. 47 

brook, at the mouth of the Connecticut. So 
actively did he bestir himself, that long before 
the opening of winter the entire work was com- 
pleted, garrisoned, and provisioned. In addition 
to the fort, a number of houses were at the 
same time erected, and the lands surrounding 
them improved to a considerable extent. 



CHAPTER III. 

Renewed trials — Prospect of an Indian war — Indians of Con- 
necticut — River tribes — Mohegans — Pequods— ^Population — 
Origin of the Pequod war — Captain Stone killed by the 
Pequods — Oldham murdered by the Block Island Indians — 
Massachusetts despatches Endicott against them — He de- 
stroys their villages — Proceeds to Thames " River — Calls 
upon the Pequods to surrender the murderers of Stone — 
His demand being refused, he burns two of their villages — 
Exasperation of the Pequods — They lurk around Fort Say- 
brook — Colonists massacred — Fortitude and death of John 
Tilley — Outhouses of the fort destroyed — Party under Lieu- 
tenant Gardiner attacked — Alarm of the Connecticut towns 
— Regulations adopted to prevent surprise — Indians attack 
Wethersfield — Connecticut towns raise troops — Headed by 
Mason, they depart against the Pequods — Cruelty of the 
Mohegan auxiliaries — Narraganset warriors join the expedi- 
tion — Mason advances into the Pequod country — Attacks 
and burns Fort Mistic — Terrible slaughter of the Indians — 
Pursuit of the fugitives — Close of the war. 

Notwithstanding their exertions, the Con- 
necticut colonists were unable to do all things 
needful to render their life durins; the winter 



48 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636. 

■wholly free from discomforts. Unacquainted 
with the nature of the soil, and with the crops 
best suited to it, their farming operations had 
resulted in a scanty harvest. Though nothing 
like starvation ensued from this partial failure, 
the price of provisions rose to a height which, 
to the poorer class of emigrants, was not far 
from distressing. 

But in addition to troubles of this kind, the 
prospect of serious difiSculties with their Indian 
neighbours excited in their minds the liveliest 
alarm. For this there was abundant cause. 

No part of New England thronged more with 
native inhabitants than Connecticut. Among 
the interior hills, and along that portion of the 
river settled by the whites, dwelt some fifteen or 
twenty small tribes, known to the colonists by 
the general name of River Indians. The war- 
riors of these tribes were at least a thousand ; 
but they were a timorous race, with no single- 
ness of interest. The year previous to the 
coming of the whites, they had been conquered 
by their enemies, the Pequods. Some of their 
sachems, having fled to the English settlements 
of Massachusetts and Plymouth, had been rein- 
stated in their sovereignty by the people of those 
colonies. They had therefore welcomed the emi- 
grants in a friendly spirit; but rather in the hope 
of securing their protection, than with the de- 



1G36.] INDIAN TRIBES. 49 



sign or courage to afford them any effective aid 
as allies. 

Inhabiting the greater portion of what is now 
the county of Windham, were the Mohegans, a 
powerful tribe, numbering some five hundred war- 
riors. These were the irreconcilable enemies of 
the Pequods, of whom they appear to have been 
a revolted clan. Uncas, their chief, belonged 
to the line of Pequod kings. 

Southward of the Mohegans, and chiefly upon 
what is now Thames River, dwelt the Pequods, 
the most powerful, warlike, and hostile to the 
English, of all the New England aborigines. 
The Pequods, strictly so called, could bring into 
the field at least seven hundred fi^htinc; men: 
but there were besides, under the authority of 
their great sachem Sassacus, twenty-six smaller 
tribes, who inhabited both shores of Long Island 
Sound as far west as the Connecticut, and even 
beyond it, nearly to the Hudson. 

The aggregate population of all these divisions 
and subdivisions of the Connecticut Indians was 
full sixteen thousand. Of this number, one- 
half, perhaps, entertained friendly feelings toward 
the whites ; but the hatred of the remainder was 
deadly and implacable, and had already mani- 
fested itself. 

During the year 1634, one Captain, Stone and 
his crew, having entered the Connecticut to trade, 
were put to death by a party of Pequods. With 



50 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1636. 

some show of justice, the Indians, when charged 
with this murder, pleaded the necessity of self- 
defence. Subsequently quarrelling with the 
Dutch, who, until this time, had been the only 
Europeans to traffic with them, they sent mes- 
sengers to Massachusetts, asking a trade with 
that colony, and also the good offices of its 
magistrates in bringing about a peace between 
them and the Narragansets of Rhode Island, with 
whom they were then at war. With both re- 
quests the Massachusetts authorities readily 
complied ; the desired reconciliation being effect- 
ed, and a vessel despatched to the Connecticut 
to trade. Winthrop, however, soon complained 
that the murderers of Captain Stone had not 
been given up, according to a promise which, it 
was asserted, the Pequod ambassadors had made. 
If they had made such a promise, the tribe now 
resolutely refused to fulfil it, tendering a pre- 
sent of furs and wampum in satisfaction for the 
murder. 

In this shape the affair rested for nearly two 
years. But, about the time that Hooker's con- 
gregation arrived at Hartford, Oldham,, the In- 
dian trader, having been murdered by a- party 
of Block Island Indians, subjects of the Narra- 
gansets, Massachusetts called out a military force 
of ninety men, to proceed to Block Island and 
chastise the offending tribe. The circumstances 
of this murder recalling that of Stone to their 



1636.] 



endicott's expedition. 51 



minds, the magistrates ordered Endicott, the 
commander of the contemplated expedition, to 
visit the Pequods, after he had put all the male 
inhabitants of Block Island to the sword, and 
obtain from them, either amicably or by force, 
the murderers of Stone, a thousand fathoms of 
wampum for damages, and several of their 
children as hostages. 

Having landed, after a slight skirmish, on 
Block Island, Endicott remained there two days; 
destroying, meanwhile, sixty wigwams and nearly 
two hundred acres of standing maize, but killing 
no Indians. He then sailed to Saybrook, whence 
he marched his party to a Pequod village on the 
Thames. This, his demands being refused and 
his troops assailed, he burned. One Indian was 
slain in the skirmish. Returning to the Con- 
necticut, he laid a second village in ashes, and 
then embarked again for Boston. 

In this expedition no Englishman lost his life, 
and much harm was done the Indians. But, 
instead of being overawed by the energetic en- 
forcement of what were claimed as just demands, 
the Pequods, a warlike and sanguinary people, 
under the sway of a high-spirited and haughty 
prince, were exasperated to madness by an attack 
which they deemed without provocation. During 
the whole autumn and winter their war-parties 
lurked in the vicinity of Fort Saybrook, cutting 
off almost every person who ventured beyond the 



52 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637. 

protection of its artillery. Fifteen or twenty of 
the English were thus taken and put to death, 
in many instances with the most horrible cruel- 
ties. One of these unfortunate persons, John 
Tilley by name, suffering his hands and then his 
feet to be cut off, and gashes to be made in his 
body and filled with live coals, without exhibit- 
ing, even by a groan, the intensity of his an- 
guish, is said to have drawn from his tormentors 
the declaration that he was '' a stout man," by 
which they conveyed the idea that he possessed 
the highest attributes of a great warrior. 

Following up a series of similar murders, the 
Indians, toward the spring of 1637, pressed still 
more closely the siege of Fort Saybrook. The 
houses, barns, and haystacks belonging to it were 
set on fire and destroyed ; and, in March, Lieu- 
tenant Gardiner, the commandant, having gone 
out with thirteen men to burn over the marshes, 
was ambushed, and regained the fort only by 
hard fighting, and with the loss of three of his 
party. Thus beleaguered, the garrison suffered 
unceasingly from alarm and anxiety ; of which, 
however, they were presently relieved by the 
arrival of Captain Underbill from Massachusetts 
with reinforcements. 

Though during the w^inter the three Connecti- 
cut towns were happily exempted from Indian 
attacks, they were yet in a state of fearful ap- 
prehension, on account of the sanguinary scenes 



1637.] INDIAN TROUBLES. 53 

enacted such a short distance belo\y them. 
Every precaution was taken to prevent surprise. 
All the able-bodied males, numbering about two 
hundred and fifty, were ordered to train regu- 
larly. Constant and strict watches were kept ; 
and the town-officers were required to see that 
every inhabitant was well supplied with arms and 
ammunition. No one went into the fields without 
a gun upon his shoulder. On Sabbath days, the 
people came to church armed and equipped, in 
apprehension of being attacked before the ser- 
vice was concluded. This practice, as well as 
others of a similar character adopted during the 
same period, was kept up for many years subse- 
quent to the events that rendered it necessary. 

Meeting at Hartford, late in February, 1637, 
the general court of the Connecticut towns sent 
to the Massachusetts authorities a letter, in 
which they complained bitterly of Endicott's 
expedition as the cause of their present distress. 
Expressing their desire that Massachusetts would 
prosecute the war more effectively, they intimated 
their own design to prepare for a vigorous cam- 
paign against the Pequods. 

In the following April the alarm of the colo- 
nists was raised to the highest pitch. The lands 
occupied by the Wethersfield planters had been 
given to them by Sequeen, a sachem of the River 
Tribes, on condition that he might live with 
them, and enjoy their protection. Having been 

5* 



64 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637. 

driven away when about to build his wigwam, 
and being refused satisfaction for the wrong thus 
done him, Sequeen, burning for revenge, at the 
head of a party of Pequods, waylaid the We- 
thersfield people as they were going out in the 
meadows to work, and killed nine of their num- 
ber, six men and three women. Two girls were 
taken prisoners at the same time ; but they were 
presently restored to their homes, through the 
kindness of some Dutch traders. 

In the mean time, the Massachusetts general 
court had raised two hundred troops with which 
to renew the war. Early in May, forty of these, 
under Captain Patrick, were despatched to the 
Pequod country. Through the active interfe- 
rence of Koger Williams, the founder and father 
of Rhode Island, who, at the risk of his life, had 
visited the Narragansets, a pending alliance be- 
tween that tribe and the Pequods was broken 
off, and Canonicus and Miantonimo, its chief 
sachems, induced to promise auxiliaries to Mas- 
sachusetts in the contemplated expedition. 

But before Patrick and his command could 
reach the scene of hostilities, the Connecticut 
people had taken the field and nearly completed 
the war. Fully aroused by the attack upon 
Wethersfield, a court of committees and magis- 
trates met at Hartford, on the 1st of May. 
Premising with the declaration that they had 
good reason to believe that the Pequods were 



1637.] CANNIBALISM. 55 

striving to form an Indian confederation against 
the whites, they voted for the raising of 
ninety men to attack them in their strongholds. 
To this undertaking Hartford contributed forty- 
two men, Windsor twenty, and AYethersfield 
eighteen. Stone was appointed chaplain of the 
expedition ; and John Mason, a trained and ex- 
perienced soldier, received from Hooker, with 
solemn ceremony and prayer, the staff of com- 
mand. 

After spending the previous night in religious 
exercises, on the morning of Wednesday, the 
11th of May, the little army, joined by sixty 
Mohegans under Uncas, embarked at Hartford 
in three vessels, and dropped slowly down the 
river to Fort Saybrook, where they arrived on 
the Monday following. Much anxiety was now 
entertained as to the faithfulness of their Indian 
allies, who, weary of the voyage from Hartford, 
had been set ashore at their own request. But 
all fears on this point were presently dispelled, 
by the Mohegans coming in with five Pequod 
scalps and a prisoner. This prisoner Uncas 
insisted upon sacrificing, according to the custom 
of his tribe ; and, though loath to do so, the 
English were compelled by policy to yield to his 
demand. A horrible scene of cruelty and can- 
nibalism now ensued. Torn limb from limb, the 
miserable savage was devoured piecemeal by his 
captors. 



B6 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637. 

Detained at Saybrook bj contrary winds, the 
leaders of the expedition discussed meanwhile 
the proper plan of attack. Mason was for taking 
a circuitous route through the Narrao-anset 
country, and thus falling upon the Pequods from 
an unexpected quarter ; but most of his officers 
thought it best to follow their instructions, and 
proceed directly to the mouth of the Thames. 
According to the custom of the times, Stone, at 
the request of the friends of both plans, passed 
nearly all Thursday night in prayer, importuning 
God for direction. On the following morning 
Mason's officers yielded ; and, a fair wind offer- 
ing, the troops embarked for Narraganset Bay, 
with Underbill and his twenty men in company. 

Sunday was spent at Wickford harbour in re- 
ligious services. On Monday, the 22d, the cap- 
tains of the expedition repaired to the court of 
Canonicus ; with whom, and the young chief 
Miantonimo, a council was held, at which two 
hundred Narraganset warriors attended. "Your 
design is good," said Miantonimo; ^'but your 
.numbers are too weak to brave the Pequods, who 
have mighty chieftains, and are skilful in battle.'* 
Nearly two hundred of his warriors, however, 
subsequently joined the expedition ; and these, 
with others who presently enlisted with the 
English, swelled the number of Mason's Indian 
allies to about five hundred. 

Directing his little fleet to repair to the 



1637.] ATTACK OX FORT MISTIC. 57 

Thames, Mason, guided by a friendly Pequod, 
urged his march across the wilderness toward the 
enemy's strongholds. There were two forts, or 
stockaded villages, a short distance east of the 
Thames. Having arrived within nine miles of 
the principal fort, which Sassacus, the great 
sachem, commanded in person, Mason signified 
his intention to assault both villages at once. 
Panic-stricken, one-third of his auxiliaries imme- 
diately withdrew from the enterprise. Thus de- 
serted, and finding his men wellnigh wearied out 
with marching, the English captain changed his 
plan, and proceeded to the nearest fort at Mistic, 
situated on a commanding eminence not far from 
the seashore. 

Woquash, the guide, proved faithful. About 
dusk in the evening of May the 25th, the Eng- 
lish pitched their camp in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of the Indian stockade. Havino: seen 
Mason's fleet sail by a few days previous, the 
Pequods, supposing that he did not dare to assail 
them, had given themselves up to feasts and re- 
joicings. Their songs of exultation were dis- 
tinctly heard during the night. Toward morn- 
ing, however, the sound of these died away. The 
unsuspecting savages were buried in profound 
sleep. 

An hour or so before dawn, favoured by the 
light of an unclouded moon, the English, led by 
Mason and Underbill, and followed reluctantly 



58 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637. 

by their auxiliaries, marched in two divisions to 
the assault. As Mason was about entering the 
fort, a dog barked. Immediately an Indian cried 
out, "English! English!" Rallying in an in- 
stant, the startled savages sought to repel their 
assailants by pouring upon them through the 
palisades a continuous discharge of arrows ; but 
the deadly fire of the English musketry soon 
drove them back into the shelter of their enclosed 
wigwams. Pausing a moment for breath, the 
assailants rushed in. A fierce hand to hand 
conflict ensued. With despairing valour, the 
Pequods strove to repel the steel-clad men of 
Connecticut; but their clubs and arrows were 
of little avail. Yet their numbers and courage 
retarded victory. Seeing some of his men fall 
wounded, and knowing that the rest were faint 
with fatigue. Mason, to shorten the fight, seized 
a burning brand and threw it among the light 
mats with which the Indian cabins were covered. 
While, with inconceivable rapidity, the flames 
spread from wigwam to wigwam, the assailants, 
forming in two lines around the devoted fort, 
prepared to put all to death who might attempt 
to escape. Pierced with bullets as they essayed 
to clamber over the palisades, and hacked to 
pieces, when they succeeded, by the broadswords 
of those without, the despairing Pequods would 
rush madly into their burning wigwams and 
there perish miserably. 



1637.] SLAUGHTER OF THE PEQUODS. 59 

For more than an hour the work of massacre 
went on without cessation. No mercy was 
shown ; not even to the old men, to the women, 
or to the little children. At length, as day was 
dawning, the roar of the conflagration and the 
horrid shrieks and yells of the savages, growing 
faint and fainter, finally ceased, and the victors 
entered the fortress they had filled with carnage 
and desolation. <' Great and doleful," writes 
Underhill — '' great and doleful was the bloody 
sight, to see so many souls lie gasping on the 
ground, so thick you could hardly pass along." 
Of six hundred Indians, men, women, and chil- 
dren, but seven escaped, and but seven were 
made prisoners. 

Of the English, only two were killed. Some 
twenty, however — a fourth part of their number 
— had received wounds more or less severe. 
Exhausted, without water, and in the midst of an 
alarmed and hostile country, their position was 
one of peril. Three hundred Pequod warriors 
were already marching upon them, from the 
village of Sassacus. But, as the sun uprose, 
Mason's anxiety was relieved ; for at a distance 
he descried his own vessels, with that bearing 
Patrick and the Massachusetts men, entering 
the Thames. Sending his wounded forward to 
the fleet, he prepared to follow. As he left the 
scene of victory, the Pequods came in sight. 
Fearful was the outburst of their horror and 



60 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637. 

rage, Tvlien they beheld the blackening embers 
of their village, and the disfigured, half-consumed 
bodies of so many of their kindred. Stamping 
upon the ground, rending their hair, and jelling 
hideously, they rushed after the destroyers, blind 
to every thing but vengeance. Driving back 
their furious onslaught with successive and deadly 
volleys of musketry, Mason conducted a safe re- 
treat to the river. Placing his wounded on ship- 
board, he himself, with twenty men, crossed the 
wilderness to Saybrook, where he was " nobly 
entertained with many great guns." 

Having burned their remaining fortress, the 
Pequods fled to the shelter of tangled thickets 
and almost inaccessible swamps. But, late in 
June, Captain Stoughton arrived with the main 
body of the Massachusetts forces. The colonists 
had determined to cut off completely a people, 
who, in the quaint language of the day, <' were 
thorns in their eyes, and slashing scourges in 
their sides." In prosecuting this work, Stough- 
ton, being joined by forty Connecticut men under 
Mason, surrounded about a hundred savages in a 
swamp, and captured them. The males, thirty 
in number, were slain ; of the remaining women 
and children, some were given to the Karraganset 
auxiliaries, and not a few distributed as slaves 
among the Massachusetts colonists. 

Two sachems, however, had been saved from 
slaughter, to act as guides in the pursuit of 



1637.] PURSUIT OF THE PEQUODS. 61 

Bassacus, who, with many warriors, was endea- 
vouring to escape to the Hudson. But, during 
the march, finding that no information coukl be 
obtained from these chiefs, Stoughton had them 
beheaded at a place since called Sachem-Head, 
in the present town of Guilford. Soon afterward, 
about three hundred of the %ing Pequods were 
discovered in a swamp, at no great distance from 
what is now the cifey of New Haven. Here they 
were surrounded, and attached as vigorously as 
the tangled and miry condition of the ground 
would permit. Many friendly Indians having 
fled panic-stricken into the swamp, a parley was 
presently had, and life offered to all ''whose 
hands were not in English blood." Some two 
hundred, mostly old men, women, and children, 
tremblingly accepted of this offer ; but nearly a 
hundred warriors boldly declared that they would 
die fighting, rather than surrender and be slaves. 
The battle then commenced again, and lasted 
until nightfall; the English meanwhile gradu- 
ally narrowing the circle in which they had 
enclosed the enemy. At dark they set their 
watches, and prepared to end the fight early the 
next day. But toward morning a dense fog 
arose, under cover of which the Pequod warriors, 
falling in a mass upon a weak part of the assail- 
ing line, broke through, and of about ninety 
all, excepting eighteen slain in the struggle, 
effected their escape. 



62 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1637. 

With tliis event the war virtually closed. 
Sassacus, the Pequod king, being presently 
killed by the Mohawks, to whose protection he 
had fled, most of the troops were disbanded. 
During the fall, however, the work of extermina- 
tion was prosecuted diligently by the Indian 
auxiliaries, who followed, like bloodhounds, upon 
the track of the scattered remnants of the un- 
fortunate Pequods. The heads and hands of 
numbers thus hunted out and killed, were brought 
into Hartford and Windsor. Many were taken 
prisoners, and sent to the West Indies to be sold 
as slaves. Thus harassed, most of the survivors, 
about two hundred, exclusive of women and 
children, came in their despair to Hartford, and 
surrendered themselves to the pleasure of the 
colonists. Being incorporated with the Narra- 
gansets and Mohegans, they were forbidden to 
inhabit their own country, or to call themselves 
Pequods, and subjected, besides, to an annual 
tribute. Nationally, and almost individually, a 
people once numerous and powerful had ceased 
to exist. 



1637.] EFFECTS OF THE WAR. 63 



CHAPTER IV. 

Effect of the war on the Indians — Subsequent distress of the 
colonists — First public tax levied — Settlement of New Haven 
as an independent colony — Plantation covenant — Lands 
purchased from the natives — City of New Haven laid out — 
Planters of Connecticut frame a constitution — Its liberal 
character — First assembly meets — John Haynes governor — 
Primary code of lava's enacted — Town of Saybrook founded 

J ' " — Proceedings of the constitutional convention of New 
Haven — Scriptural character of the constitution framed by 
it — Eaton governor of New Haven — Davenport's charge to 
the governor — New towns planted — Connecticut colony's 
difficulty with Sequeen, sachem of the River Indians — Singu- 
lar decision of the Massachusetts elders — Expedition against 
the Pequods — Hopkins governor — New towns planted — Go- 
vernor of New Netherlands complains of English encroach- 
ments — New Haven sends out colonists to the Delaware — 
They commence settlements there — Dutch governor protests 
■ — Sends troops to destroy the new plantations — Complete 
success of the expedition — New Haven remonstrates — Second 
code of laws in Connecticut. 

Two years after the close of the war with the 
Pequods, when some three hundred members of 
that tribe, having ventured to re-enter their 
ancient hunting-grounds, were confronted by a 
small party of Connecticut people, under Mason, 
they declared that they would not fight the Eng- 
lish — " for they were not men, but spirits." Such 
was the feeling of superstitious terror with which 
not only the Pequods, but all the savages of New 



64 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1638. 

England, had been inspired by the fierce energy 
and stern daring exhibited by the colonists in 
the late brief but sanguinary contest. It was 
owing to the prevalence of this feeling, that, for 
so many years afterward, no serious Indian war 
disturbed the quiet of the settlements. In the 
prospect of such a period of peace, the New 
England churches set apart a day for general 
thanksgiving. 

The winter following was one of extreme se- 
verity. From the first of November until the 
last of March the country was covered with 
snow — in many places to the thickness of three 
and four feet. During this hard season, the Con- 
necticut settlers experienced the most serious 
evil that resulted from the war. So many df 
them having been called away during the plant- 
ing season, their crops fell short. Corn became 
scarce, and the price of it rose to an extraordi- 
nary height. But having struggled through the 
winter, the colonists, early in the spring of 1638, 
were relieved from their distress by obtaining 
fifty canoe loads of corn from the Indians inha- 
biting what is now the town of Deerfield in 
Massachusetts. Previous to this, early in Febru- 
ary, the general court levied the first public tax 
— five hundred and fifty pounds — to defray the 
expenses of the war. Reorganizing the militia, 
they presently appointed Mason major-general, 
with a salary of forty pounds a year. Laws 



1638.] QUINNIPIACK SETTLED. 65 

were also enacted to punish all persons "who 
should in any way infringe upon the rights of 
the Indians. 

In the mean time preparations had been made 
to establish a second colony in Connecticut. 
The numerous and opulent company engaged in 
this undertaking had arrived at Boston, in the 
summer of 1637, under the chief direction of 
Theophilus Eaton and Edward Hopkins, both 
persons of worth and ability, and possessed of 
extensive means. John Davenport, a Puritan 
divine of London, eminent for sanctity and 
learning, accompanied the emigrants as their 
spiritual guide. 

Hoping to retain in their midst a company so 
pious and wealthy, the Massachusetts people 
offered them very advantageous settlements there. 
But, liking not the heterodox opinions at this 
time rife in Massachusetts, Davenport and his 
flock determined to remove by themselves, and 
plant an independent colony. 

Accordingly, having selected, during the pre- 
vious fall, a place for settlement at Quinnipiack, 
near the head of a large bay on the coast west 
of the Connecticut, where a few of their number 
spent the winter, Eaton and his friends, late 
in March, 1638, embarked thither, and, after a 
fortnight's voyage, safely reached the scene of 
their contemplated labours. On the Sabbath 

following, April the 18th, Davenport preached 

6* 



66 HISTOHY OF COXNECTICUT. [1638. 

Ms first sermon under the still leafless branches 
of a spreading oak. Soon afterward a day of 
fasting and prayer was set apart, at the close 
of which the colonists formed what they called a 
"plantation covenant;" binding themselves "to 
be ordered," in civil as well as in religious mat- 
ters, "by the rules which the Scriptures held 
forth to them." 

After a wet and gloomy spring, during which 
their corn had to be planted two, and, in some 
instances, three times, a delightful summer shone 
upon the labours of the Quinnipiack colonists, 
freeing them, as well as their neighbours on the 
Connecticut, from serious apprehensions of a 
winter of scarcity. 

Late in November a council was held with 
Momauquin, sachem of the few resident Indians. 
Having "tasted the protection of the English" 
during the previous autumn, when sorely pressed 
by the Mohawks and Pequods, Momauquin be- 
stowed upon Eaton and his company all the 
lands of Quinnipiack ; covenanting, at the same 
time, not to disturb the colonists, and to keep 
true faith with them in every respect. On their 
part, the English promised the Indians their 
further protection, and lands enough for them 
to plant on at Quinnipiack; and, "by way of 
free and thankful retribution," they presented 
Momauquin, and the warriors his attendants, 
with twelve English coats, "twelve alchymy 



1639.] NEW HAVEN SETTLED. 67 

spoons," a number of hoes and hatcliets, and 
four cases of French cutlery. A few days after- 
ward, a second tract, north of Quinnipiack, and 
containmg one hundred and thirty square miles, 
was bought for thirteen coats ; the Indians 
being allowed planting-grounds, and liberty to 
hunt upon the lands. 

Having thus secured a considerable territory, 
the colonists proceeded to lay out, in regular and 
spacious squares, the ground-plan of the present 
beautiful city of New Haven. 

Finding themselves without the limits of the 
Massachusetts patent, the free planters of the 
three Connecticut towns assembled at Hartford, 
on the l-ith of January, 1639, and adopted a 
written constitution, of unexampled liberality, 
and one which their descendants have as yet de- 
viated from in no essential particular. All re- 
sidents of good character, whether church mem- 
bers or not, might be admitted freemen. A 
governor, with six assistants or magistrates, and 
a house of deputies, were to compose the general 
court or assembly, with power to enact laws for 
the government of the colony, and to make ju- 
dicial decisions. This court was to meet annual- 
ly in September ; but, if there was urgent occa- 
sion, it might be summoned oftener by the 
governor and magistrates, or even by the town 
constables, if the governor and magistrates re- 
fused to convoke it in compliance with the wishes 



68 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT. [1639. 

of the colonists. Upon the house of deputies, 
which was clothed with the full voice and author- 
ity of all the freemen, devolved the election of 
the governor, the magistrates, and other colonial 
officers. For this purpose the house was to meet 
annually, in April. The governor, who had a 
casting vote, was to be chosen from among the 
magistrates, could not be elected for two years 
in succession, and was required to be a church 
member. The number of deputies from each 
town was to be in proportion to its population. 
Taxes could be levied only by committees, nu- 
merically equal, from all of the towns. 

In April, the first house of deputies under 
this constitution assembled at Hartford. John 
Haynes was chosen governor. Ludlow, one of 
the six magistrates elected at the same time, 
acted as deputy-governor ; while Hopkins, who 
had settled at Hartford, and was also a magis- 
trate, received the post of colonial secretary. 
All these officers appear to have served gratui- 
tously ; and it was not until 1648, that a law was 
passed granting the governor and his dejDuty a 
yearly salary of thirty pounds each. 

Having assembled in October following, the 
general court enacted a code of laws, any de- 
ficiencies in which were to be supj)lied '^ by some 
clear and plain rule of the word of God." Du- 
ring this session, each town was vested mih au- 
thority to create two courts ; one for the decision 



1639.] NEW TOWNS LAID OUT. 69 

of minor cases of debt and trespass, and the 
other, called the ''particular court," was to have 
a jurisdiction similar to that of the present 
countj and superior courts, though with rather 
extensive discretionary powers. 

Meanwhile two new towns had been planted 
under the jurisdiction of Connecticut : Fairfield, 
by eight or ten families from Windsor, headed 
by the restless Ludlow, who had become ac- 
quainted with the country while pursuing the 
Pequods ; and Stratford, by a number of settlers 
from Roxbury and Concord in Massachusetts. 

Fort Saybrook, and the lands in its vicinity, 
still remained with the English proprietors, some 
of whom yet contemplated removing there, and 
founding a colony. With this design, about 
midsummer, arrived George Fenwick and his 
amiable wife, accompanied by their own family 
and several others. By these the town of 
Saybrook was laid out, with regular streets 
and extensive squares, as for a great commercial 
city. 

In the mean time, having received large acces- 
sions, the free planters of New Haven deter- 
mined to model a more perfect form of go- 
vernment than the plantation covenant, under 
which they had lived for more than a year. As- 
sembling for this purpose in a large barn at 
Quinnipiack, on the 4th of June, 1639, they 
were addressed by Davenport in a sermon, on 



70 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1639. 

the text from Proverbs : " Wisdom lias builded 
her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars." 
The church, which is the house of God — such 
was the pith of the preacher's remarks — should 
rest upon seven pillars, or principal brethren, 
and to these must all succeeding members be 
added. Solemn prayer followed the sermon. 
Then, having directed their attention to the 
greatness and importance of their undertaking, 
Davenport propounded to the assembly many 
questions, upon which were framed resolutions — 

" That the Scriptures are a perfect rule for 
the direction and government of all men. 

" That, as in matters which concerned the 
gathering and ordering of a church, so, likewise, 
in all concerning civil order, they would be go- 
verned by that rule. 

('<■ That all those who had desired to settle in 
the plantation as freemen, had done so with the 
purpose and desire that they might be admitted 
into church fellowship. 

" That all the free planters held themselves 
bound to establish such civil order as might best 
conduce to the securing of the purity and peace 
of the ordinance to themselves and their pos- 
terity. 

" That church members only should be free 
burgesses ; and that they only should choose 
magistrates among themselves, to have power of 



1639.] EATON ELECTED GOVERNOR. 71 

transacting all the public civil affairs of tlie 
plantation." 

It now became necessary to organize a church, 
without which there could be neither freemen 
nor magistrates. Proceeding with great care, 
i the assembly selected a committee of twelve, 
with power to designate seven of their own num- 
f ber as the pillars of the congregation. These 
seven were to be intrusted with the sole author- 
ity to admit others to church membership. 

After mature deliberation, Eaton, Davenport, 
and five others, were designated by the com- 
mittee. Convening on the 25th of October, 
after solemn prayer, the " seven pillars" declar- 
ed every previous executive trust to be utterly 
abrogated. All church members were then ad- 
mitted into the court. 

A body of freemen being thus provided, Da- 
venport expounded to them, " from the sacred 
oracles," the character of civil magistrates.' 
Then followed an election for governor and ma- 
gistrates ; Eaton being chosen for the former 
office, to which he was annually re-elected till 
his death, in 1657. 

After the elections were concluded, Davenport, 
rising up in open court, turned toward the new 
governor, and charged him in the words of Moses 
to Israel: — 

" Hear the causes between your brethren, and 
judge righteously between every man and his 



72 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1639. 

brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye 
shall' not respect persons in judgment ; but _ye 
shall hear the small as well as the great : ye 
shall not be afraid of the face of man ; for the 
judgment is God's ; and the cause that is too 
hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear 
it." 

After this a court of election was established, 
to meet annually in the last week of October. 
Then it was decreed " that God's word should be 
the only rule for ordering the affairs of govern- 
ment in the commonwealth." There being no 
authority for it in the Scriptures, trial by jury 
was not sanctioned. 

To the new commonwealth thus constituted, 
two new towns were added during the year. 
Driven away by discords in the church, several 
Wethersfield families came down to the seacoast, 
where they bought lands from the natives, and 
planted the town of Milford ; which, as the In- 
dians were numerous in that neighbourhood, they 
encircled with nearly a mile of palisades. About 
the same time, a large company of farmers, from 
Surrey and Kent counties in England, began to 
build up the town of Guilford, on the extensive 
meadows halfway between New Haven and the 
Connecticut. In both these settlements the form 
of government was modelled after that of New 
Haven. 

"While the two Connecticut colonies were thus 



1640.] CURIOUS DECISION. 73 

prospering, their people had not been without 
occasions for anxiety. With Sequeen, the sa- 
chem who had brought the Pequods upon We- 
thersfield, a difficulty arose in regard to that 
affair, which nearly led to a war with the River 
Indians. But the case being referred to the 
elders and magistrates of Massachusetts, they 
decided that the Indian, having been first wrong- 
ed, was justified, by the law of nations, in right- 
ing himself either by force or fraud. This singu- 
lar decision was perfectly in accordance with 
the policy which had led to the destruction of 
the Pequods for the injuries done to a few indi- 
viduals. In obedience to it, and. in consequence 
of the intercessions of the New Haven people,, 
the dispute was suffered to rest. • 

Shortly afterward an expedition was despatch- 
ed, with Mason at its head, against the Pequods, 
many of whom had returned to their former 
homes, notwithstanding they had been forbidden 
to do so by their conquerors. They retired^ 
however, without fighting, before Mason; who 
proceeded to burn their new wigwams, and carry 
off a large store of corn they had collected. 

In the spring of 1640, Hopkins was chosen 
governor of the Connecticut towns, an office to 
which he and Haynes were alternately elected 
till 1654. 

Dui'ing the year both Connecticut and New 
Haven made several large purchases of lands, 

7 



74 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1640. 

and received accessions to the number of their 
towns. Under the jurisdiction of the former, 
Norwalk was planted by a few families ; but 
several years elapsed before the settlement gave 
evidences of activity. Still farther west, the 
lands of Stamford and Greenwich were bought 
for New Haven. The former town, however, 
was not settled till the next year, and then by 
a second offshoot from the still discordant con- 
gregation of Wethersfield. Greenwich, ulti- 
mately the frontier town in that direction, and 
begun by Captain Patrick, an, old companion in 
arms of Underbill, was presently induced to 
submit to the jurisdiction of New Netherlands. 
Crossing over to the western end of Long Island, 
a party of Massachusetts people attempted a 
settlement there, under a grant from Lord 
Stirling. Finding the arms of New Nether- 
lands affixed to a tree, they tore them down, and 
in their stead set up an "unhandsome face." 
For this insult the <' intruders"' were arrested, 
and compelled to apologize. They did not, how- 
ever, leave the island ; but, retiring to its east- 
ern end, founded Southampton, and put them- 
selves under the jurisdiction of Connecticut. 
Not far from this town Southold was begun, by 
a few Puritan families, and annexed to New 
Haven. 

Of these " encroachments" upon land claimed 
as belonging to Holland, Kieft, the fiery go- 



1640.] SETTLEMENTS ON THE DELAWARE. T5 

vernor of New Netherlands, complained bitterly, 
as lie had previously done with regard to the 
settlement at New Haven. Nor did he forget 
to protest against the conduct of the Hartford 
people, who, he declared, had subjected the 
traders of the House of Good Hope to nume- 
rous petty insults and annoyances, with the de- 
sign of breaking up that post altogether. 

But the complaints and protests of Kieft 
checked not at all the " aggressive spirit" of his 
Puritan neighbours. Desirous of making still 
more extensive settlements, the people of New 
• Haven, during the fall of 1640, purchased lands 
upon the Delaware Bay and Biver, and prepared 
to colonize them. Accordingly, in the spring 
of 1641, some fifty families embarked at Qumni- 
piack, and set sail for the new plantations. On 
their way they touched at Manhattan, and in- 
formed the Dutch governor of their designs, 
Claiming for New Netherlands the country on 
the Delaware, Kieft immediately protested. 
The New England men, however, proceeded on 
their voyage ; and, on the banks of Salem Creek 
in New Jersey, and at the mouth of the Schuyl- 
kill, laid the foundations of two settlements. 
But scarcely a month elapsed before an armed 
force, sent by Kieft from Manhattan, visited the 
new plantations, burned the houses of the Eng- 
lish, detained their goods, and finally put a stop 



76 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1641. 

to the undertaking. A spirited but unavailing 
protest followed from New Haven. 

Meanwhile the Connecticut towns had been 
busilj preparing a code of laws. In accordance 
with scriptural authority, death was made the 
punishment of ten offences, including the wor- 
ship of any but the true God ; blasphemy ; witch- 
craft, or the consulting of evil spirits ; several 
crimes of uncleanness ; bearing false witness to 
take away life; man stealing, and rebellion. Arson, 
notorious stubbornness in children of a certain 
age, and the cursing or striking of parents, were 
afterward added to the number of capital of- 
fences. Imprisonment for at least three years, 
together with a fine or corporal punishment, was 
to be inflicted upon persons who should desert 
the English settlements, and live " in a profane 
or heathenish manner." 



1641.] CONFEDERATION OF THE COLONIES. 77 



CHAPTER V. 

Confederation of the New England colonies — Quarrel of Uncas 
and Miantonimo — Colonies side with Uncas — Miantonimo 
attacks him — Is defeated and taken captive — Claims the 
protection of the English — Colonial commissioners condemn 
him to death — He is executed by Uncas — Miantonimo's 
tribe persist in making war upon Uncas — Threatened by 
the colonies, they agree to a treaty of peace — Difficulties 
^ith the governor of New Netherlands — Cheerless opening 
of the year 1644 — Monthly fast proclaimed — Road ordered 
to be laid out from Boston to the Connecticut — Saybrook 
purchased by Connecticut — New Haven people appoint an 
agent to apply for a charter — 'Their losses in planting — 
They fit out a vessel to trade with England — Vessel sails 
with the charter agent on board — Is never heard of again — 
Gloom of the colonists — Death and character of Hooker — 
New London settled by Winthrop — Disputes between Con- 
necticut and Massachusetts — Pequods placed under English 
protection — Renewed difficulties with the government ot 
New Netherlands — Temporarily arranged by a treaty with 
Stuyvesant. 

Ever since the Pequod war, a union of the 
New England colonies had been in contempla- 
tion. Articles of confederation were proposed 
in 1638, but Connecticut having objections, the 
subject was dropped for a brief period. The 
vicinity of the Dutch — a powerful and already 
quarrelsome neighbour — together with apprehen- 
sions of danger from the Indians, at length in- 
duced the Connecticut people to waive their ob- 

7* 



78 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1643. 

jections to the proposed plan of union. Renew- 
ing their negotiations in regard to the matter, 
they were finally successful. On the 19th of 
May, 1643, the four colonies of Massachusetts, 
Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, under 
the style of the <« United Colonies of New Eng- 
land," entered into a "perpetual league, offen- 
sive and defensive," " both for preserving and 
propagating the truth and liberty of the gospel, 
and for their own mutual safety and welfare." 
Two commissioners from each colony, meeting 
annually, or oftener if necessary, were to trans- 
act the business of the confederacy. To these 
commissioners, who were required to be church 
members, was especially assigned the manage- 
ment of Indian affairs and foreign relations, 
with the exclusive power of declaring war or 
making peace. Each colony, carefully reserving 
its rights of local jurisdiction, bound itself to 
observe the decisions of six out of the eight 
commissioners ; and, in case of war, to furnish 
its quota of men and expenditures in proportion 
to the number of male inhabitants. This, the 
earliest of Anglo-American confederacies, re- 
mained in existence forty years, and was only 
then dissolved by the arbitrary annulment of the 
colonial charters by James II. 

The union was a timely one. Already, during 
the previous year, difficulties had arisen between 
the Mohegans and Narragansets, which threaten- 



1643.] INDIAN QUARREL. 79 

ed to involve the colonists in an Indian war. 
The Mohegan Uncas having quarrelled with 
Miantonimo, sachem of the Narragansets, accused 
him and his people of plotting a general massa- 
cre of the English. Alarmed by this intelli- 
gence, Connecticut advised a sudden, anticipa- 
tory attack upon the accused tribe. More pru- 
dently, however, Massachusetts caused the In- 
dians to be deprived of the English firelocks, 
with which many of them had been supplied by 
the cupidity of reckless traders, and summoned 
Miantonimo to appear at Boston, and answer to 
the charge that had been brought against him. 
Though indignant at being thus arraigned as a 
criminal, the Narraganset chieftain promptly 
obeyed the summons, jis nothing could be 
satisfactorily proved against him, he was dis- 
missed ; but the court required him to promise 
not to make war upon Uncas, without having 
first obtained permission from them. 

Soon after the union of the New England 
colonies, Uncas and Miantonimo renewed their 
quarrel. Having complained to the governors 
of Connecticut and Massachusetts, that his 
enemy had done him injury, the latter chief was 
"told to take his own course" in obtaining satis- 
faction. Upon this he gathered suddenly to- 
gether a thousand warriors, and marched into 
the country of the Mohegans. On a broken and 
rocky plain, not far from the present town of 



80 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1643. 

Norwich, he was met by Uncas. Finding his 
forces outnumbered, the wily Mohegan resorted 
to stratagem. Waiting until the Narragansets 
were within bowshot, he stepped out in front of 
his warriors, and, demanding a parley, proposed 
to Miantonimo that they two should decide, in 
single combat, the fate of their respective armies. 
<'My men came to fight," was the reply of his 
impetuous antagonist, «' and they shall fight." 
At these words Uncas fell upon the ground ; 
when, all at once, letting fly a deadly shower of 
arrows, his warriors, with fierce cries and yells, 
rushed furiously to battle. Panic-struck by a 
movement so sudden and unexpected, the Narra- 
gansets fled in the utmost consternation. Many 
were killed, and some taken captive. Among 
the latter was Miantonimo. Carried to Hart- 
ford, the fallen chief, uttering the first words 
of his captivity, claimed protection from the 
English. 

Meeting soon after, in September, the New 
England commissioners, at the request of Uncas, 
took the fate of Miantonimo into consideration. 
Many charges were advanced against the prisoner, 
but the evidence relied upon to sustain them, ap- 
pears to have been, for the most part, that of 
his hereditary enemies. Yet, in the opinion of 
his judges, it was conclusive. Guilty though he 
might be, Miantonimo still had claims upon the 
gratitude of the colonists. Hitherto he had 



1643.] MIANTONIMO EXECUTED. 81 

been their unwavering friend, and even now it 
was by no means certain that he bore them ill 
win. His services as an ally, during the Pe- 
quod war, had been considered of the highest 
importance. Yet Uncas, whom it was alleged 
he had more than once attempted to murder, had 
similar, and perhaps stronger claims to English 
gratitude. Chiefly upon this charge of murder 
he was condemned to death. 

Returning to Hartford, the Connecticut com- 
missioners delivered Miantonimo to Uncas, with 
directions to take him beyond the borders of the 
colony, and there execute him, but without the 
customary cruelties of an Indian execution. Re- 
ceiving their prisoner, the Mohegans bore him 
to the vicinity of the late battle-field. At the 
instant the appointed ground was reached, 
Uncas, stealing behind the unfortunate chieftain, 
buried a hatchet in his head. Then, cutting a 
strip of flesh from the shoulder of his slaughter- 
ed rival, he devoured it eagerly, declaring "that 
it was the sweetest meat he ever ate — it made 
his heart strong." With the fate thus inflicted 
upon Miantonimo, the faithful benefactor of the 
founders of Rhode Island, there have been many 
to sympathize ; and but a few years have elapsed 
since a block of granite, inscribed with his name, 
was placed upon the spot where he fell and was 
buried. 

Burning to revenge the loss of their sachem, 



82 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1644. 

the tribe of Miantonimo persisted in waging war 
upon Uncas, notwithstanding the commissioners 
had ordered them to desist. At length, deter- 
mined to protect their allies at all hazards, the 
united colonies, having previously garrisoned 
the Mohegan country with a few Connecticut 
troops, called for three hundred volunteers to 
bring the Narragansets to terms. Alarmed at 
the prospect of a war with the English, the of- 
fending tribes finally accepted the mediation 
of the colonial commissioners, and made peace 
with Uncas. But, as regarded the Narragansets, 
the conditions of this submissive peace were hard 
and grievous ; and for many years the colonies 
were greatly troubled in exacting obedience to 
them. 

Meanwhile letters were received from the go- 
vernor of New Netherlands, congratulating the 
New England colonies on their late confederal 
tion. At the same time, however, he complain- 
ed of <' insufferable wrong" by the Connecticut 
people upon the Dutch garrison of the House of 
Good Hope. On behalf of Connecticut and 
New Haven, the commissioners replied in a let- 
ter loaded with recriminations, and charging the 
garrison of Good Hope with many unlawful acts 
and aggressions. To this Kieft sent a rejoinder 
asserting the claim of the States-General to both 
shores of Long Island Sound. 

The year 1644 opened cheerlessly. To the 



1645.] SAYBROOK PURCHASED. B3 

Narraganset troubles was ^dded a sanguinary 
contest between the Dutch of New Netherlands 
and their Indian neighbours, which threatened 
to involve the people of Connecticut and New 
Haven in its horrors. For a while the two co- 
lonies were in a state of constant apprehension. 
A general monthly fast was proclaimed, to begin 
on the 4th of January. During the year, how- 
ever, this alarm subsided in a great degree, and 
affairs went on smoothly and prosperously. Meet- 
ing at Hartford, in September, the commission- 
ers of the united colonies ordered a road to be 
laid out from Boston to Connecticut. They 
also recommended to the several general courts 
the petition of .the Rev. Mr. Shepard ; in com- 
pliance with which, contributions of grain and 
provisions were ordered to be sent annually to 
Cambridge, for the support of the university 
there. 

Early in 1645 arrangements were concluded 
with Fenwick, the founder of Saybrook, by 
which, on certain conditions being fulfilled, Con- 
necticut was to become the owner of Fort Say- 
brook, and to have the right of jurisdiction over 
all the lands between the Narraganset and Con- 
necticut Rivers, mentioned in the patent of War- 
wick to Lords Say and Brooke. 

Having thus obtained a title to the soil, the 
fathers of Connecticut, content with the secu- 
rity afforded them by the confederacy, seem to 



84 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1647. 

have desired no guaranty for their independence 
from the home government. The people of New 
Haven, however, had already appointed an agent 
to procure a charter from England. So far their 
enterprise of planting a colony had been at- 
tended with alarming losses. Hoping to retrieve 
their fast-declining fortunes, a number of the 
principal colonists built a vessel of one hundred 
tons burden, and freighted her for England, with 
the best part of their commercial wealth. In 
this vessel embarked Mr. Gregson, the agent 
employed to obtain the desired charter. Having 
had a way cut for her through the ice in New 
Haven harbour, the ship sailed early in Janu- 
ary, 1647 ; but she was never heard of again. 
Disheartened at this loss, in connection with 
their previous ones, the colonists at one time 
contemplated abandoning their colony alto- 
gether ; nor was the attempt to obtain a charter 
renewed until the lapse of many years. 

In July, 1647, " closing his eyes with his own 
hands, and gently stroking his own forehead," 
expired, at Hartford, in the sixty-first year of 
his age, Thomas Hooker, ^'the father and founder 
of Connecticut." His life, says Trumbull, had 
been an exhibition " of the most exemplary pa- 
tience and goodness. Naturally a man of strong 
and lively passions, he obtained a happy govern- 
ment of himself. In his day he was one of the 
most animated and powerful preachers in New 



1647.] SETTLEMENT AT PEQUOD HARBOUR. 85 

England. In conversation he was pleasant and 
entertaining, but always grave. He was affable, 
condescending, and charitable. Yet his appear- 
ance and conduct were of such becoming ma- 
jesty, authority and prudence, that he could do 
more with a word, or a look, than other men 
could with a severe discipline." His charities 
were numerous and unceasing, and ''it was no 
uncommon thing for him to give away five or ten 
pounds at a time to poor widows, orphans, and 
necessitous people." " He was," in the language 
of his contemporaries, " one of a thousand whose 
diligence and unweariedness, besides his other 
endowments in the work committed to him, were 
almost beyond compare — the one rich pearl with 
v>'hich Europe more than repaid America for the 
treasures from her coast." 

Meanwhile, during the summer previous, a 
settlement had been commenced at Pequod Har- 
bour. The leader in this enterprise was John 
Winthrop, the active, persevering, and far-sighted 
son of the governor of Massachusetts. Claim- 
ing the country on the strength of a verbal gift 
from Sashions, a Nehantic sachem, Winthrop had 
planted under a Massachusetts commission ; but 
both his claim, and the jurisdiction thus set up 
by the Bay colony, were warmly contested by 
Connecticut. The dispute being presently brought 
before the colonial commissioners, they were 
backward in recognising "Winthrop's claim, and 



86 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1647. 

he appears to have abandoned it ; while the ju- 
risdiction of the settlement was assigned to 
Connecticut. After this decision was made, in 
1647, the new town took a vigorous start, and 
by the opening of the next year its population 
amounted to full forty families. Winthrop was 
appointed superintendent of the plantation, to 
which, that they " might leave to posterity the 
memory of that renowned city from whence they 
had their transportation," the colonists gave the 
name of New London. The name of the "fair 
river Mohegan," upon which the town had been 
commenced, was changed to the Thames. 

Circumstances soon occurred to strengthen the 
ill feeling which had arisen between Connecticut 
and Massachusetts during the late dispute. In 
his recent assignment to the former colony, 
Fenwick had stipulated that, for ten years, a 
small impost should be levied for his benefit, on 
all corn and beaver passing Fort Saybrook. 
The people of Springfield, in Massachusetts, 
having refused to pay this impost, Connecticut 
complained of their conduct to the commission- 
ers of the united colonies. After a full hear- 
ing of the matter, they sustained the impost, on 
the ground that .Connecticut had a right to levy 
it for the maintenance of the fort, from which 
Springfield, as well as the towns below, derived 
no small benefit. 

By no means pleased w^ith this decision, the 



1650.] COLONIAL DISPUTES. 87 

general court of Massachusetts brought the 
subject again before the commissioners, at their 
meeting in 1648. Not content with arguing 
against the impost, thej expressed dissatisfac- 
tion with the articles of confederation, which 
allowed them onlj two commissioners, though 
their colony was much the largest and most 
populous. In conclusion, they declared that 
ii if the impost were lawful, it was not expe- 
dient;" that it was a "bone of contention, to 
interrupt their happy union and brotherly love;" 
and that it " laid them under temptation to help 
themselves in some other way." A full and able 
reply was drawn up by Hopkins and Ludlow ; 
who, in the course of their argument, expressed 
something more than a doubt as to Springfield's 
being under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. 
Again the commissioners, on a fair and impartial 
examination of the question, gave a decision in 
favour of Connecticut. Having vainly protested 
against this, the Massachusetts authorities reta- 
liated by levying an impost duty upon all goods 
belonging to any inhabitants of the other three 
colonies, which might enter Boston harbour. 
To this proceeding the remaining confede- 
rates could only oppose a remonstrance, earnest, 
and expressive of deeply-wounded feeling. It 
was not without efi'ect; for, in the year 
1650, Massachusetts suspended the obnoxious 
ordinance. Animosities had been engendered, 



88 HISTOEY OF CONNECTICUT. [1650. 

however, which wellnigh proved fatal to the 
confederacy. Besides, during the quarrel, Mas- 
sachusetts had run a new boundary line, which 
Connecticut complained of as bending too far to 
the southward. Hence arose a new disagree- 
ment, that remained unsettled for nearly seventy 
years. 

At their meeting in 1649, the colonial com- 
missioners received a petition from the Pequods 
under Uncas, which tended to shake seriously 
their confidence in that chieftain's moral worth, 
however much his faithfulness as an ally might 
command their respect and gratitude. By the 
petitioners, some fifty or sixty in number, he 
was charged w^ith having plundered and mal- 
treated them, and with appropriating to himself 
the wife of one of their chief men. These 
charges being fully sustained, the commissioners 
ordered Uncas to be reproved and fined, to pay 
damages to those he had robbed and maltreated, 
and to restore the woman to her lawful husband. 
At the same time they made a recommendation, 
in accordance with which, some few years after- 
ward, the shattered relics of the Pequods were 
allowed a home and hunting grounds within the 
limits of Connecticut, and not far from the seats 
of their ancestors. Here English protection 
was vouchsafed to them, and a code of laws 
drawn up for their especial use. 

Meanwhile Kieft, the governor of New Nether- 



1650.] TREATY WITH STUYVESANT. 89 

lands, had been superseded by the gallant Peter 
Stuyvesant. To the latter, soon after his arrival 
at Manhattan, the New England commissioners 
despatched a letter of congratulation, ending, 
however, with some complaints, of which, in his 
reply, Stuyvesant said nothing. 

Scarcely had the commissioners recovered a 
little from this affront, as they deemed it, when 
their indignation was again kindled by Stuyve- 
sant ordering the vessel of a Dutch resident at 
New Haven to be seized, while at anchor in that 
port, under the pretence, it was then supposed, 
that New Haven belonged to the States-General. 
Against this seizure the English protested with 
much warmth. At length, tired of the war of 
words, Stuyvesant bent his pride to the often- 
expressed desire of the united colonies, and 
visited Hartford in person, to confer with the 
New England confederates. His first overtures 
being written, were dated at New Netherlands. 
Viewing this as an attempt to assume jurisdic- 
tion of the place of meeting, the commissioners 
sturdily refused to treat, until he consented to 
date from Connecticut. This difficulty settled, 
negotiations went on smoothly ; and, on the 11th 
of November, 1650, articles of agreement were 
signed. ^Yith regard to the seizure of the ves- 
sel in New Haven Harbour, Stuyvesant offered 
an explanation which was received as satisfac- 
tory. Many other injuries were complained of, 

8* 



90 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1650. 

but these he declined noticing, as they had been 
committed by his predecessor. In the settle- 
ment of boundaries, all that part of Long Island 
east of Oyster Bay was assigned to the English. 
The partition line on the main was to begin at 
Greenwich Bay, thence running northerly twenty 
miles, and beyond, as the parties might after- 
ward agree, but not to approach within ten miles 
of the Hudson. The Dutch were allowed to re- 
tain their fort at Hartford, with the lands ap- 
purtenant ; but all the rest of the territory on 
the river was relinquished to Connecticut. 

Thus the long-pending dispute which had 
caused so much inkshed, was, to every appear- 
ance, brought to an amicable conclusion, greatly 
to the satisfaction of all concerned. 



1650.] CODE OF LAWS. 91 



CHAPTER VI. 

First complete code of Connecticut laws — Penalties inflicted 
upon the irreligious — Regulations for the support of religion 
— Recommendations for christianizing the Indians — Efforts 
of Elliott — Free-school system fostered — Penalties of lying 
— Use of tobacco restricted — Debtors saleable — Negro sla- 
very — Regulation in regard to courtship and marriage — Re- 
newed attempt of New Haven to plant on the Delaware — 
Emigrants seized by Stuyvesant — England and Holland at 
war — Massachusetts refuses to join the other colonies against 
New Netherlands — Indignation of Connecticut and New 
Haven — They solicit the aid of Cromwell — Death of Haynes 
• — Peace between England and Holland — House of Good 
Hope seized by Connecticut — Harmony restored to the New 
England confederacy — John Winthrop governor — Death of 
Eaton — Newman governor of New Haven — Death of Hop- 
kins — His liberality — Church dissensions — Law against 
Quakers — Lenient treatment of the Quakers in Connecticut 
and New Haven — Severity of Massachusetts — Wells go- 
vernor — Re-election of Winthrop — Change in the rule with 
regard to the election of governors. 

In May, previous to the treaty with Stuyve- 
sant, the first complete code of Connecticut laws 
was adopted by the general court. It had been 
compiled by Ludlow, and contained, besides the 
capital enactments already enumerated, many 
new features, which, as being illustrative of the 
times and people, may be noticed briefly. 

"Obstinate contemners of God's holy ordi- 
nances," on being arraigned the third time, were 
condemned to stand in public with a paper on 



92 EISTORY OF COXNECTICUT. [1650. 

their breasts, stating the nature of their offence. 
Non-attendance at church was punishable with a 
fine of five shillings. All persons were required, 
under certain penalties, to contribute to the sup- 
port of the Congregational or established 
churches ; but " all sober, orthodox persons, dis- 
senting from them," were, upon application to 
the general court, " to be allowed peaceably to 
worship in their own way." No church censure 
was to '' degrade or depose any man from any 
civil authority." Every family was required to 
be supplied with " Bibles, orthodox catechisms, 
and books on practical godliness." 

The laws to which the colonists subjected their 
barbarian neighbours were many and stringent. 
Yet, while careful to promote religion themselves, 
they felt, in some degree, the importance of 
christianizing "those poore, lost, naked sons of 
Adam." For this purpose, the new code recom- 
mended that some one of ''the leading elders" 
should go among them, at least twice a year, 
«' to make known to them the councells of the 
Lord." But no success appears to have attend- 
ed their efforts ; and when, a few years later, 
the celebrated missionary Elliott preached to 
the assembled Podunk Indians, at Hartford, 
begging them to accept the truth of Christianity, 
their chiefs would have none of it. "You Eng- 
lish have taken away our lands," was their lan- 
guage, "and now you want to make us servants." 



1650.] CODE OF LAWS. 93 

Education, cared for from the first, the new 
code fostered bj the establishment of a system 
of free schools. Every town, consisting of fifty 
families, was required to maintain a school for 
reading and writing, and certain of the larger 
towns a grammar-school, "to fit youths for the 
university." For their support lands were ap- 
propriated by the general court. The select- 
men of every town were to take especial care 
that all the heads of families should instruct 
their children and servants to read the English 
tongue well. 

Lying, <'that foulle and grosse sin," was pun- 
ishable with fine, stripes at the whipping-post, 
or confinement in the stocks. Tobacco could not 
be taken by any person under the age of twenty, 
while those addicted to its use were forbidden to 
take it except at a distance of ten miles from 
any company. Debtors could be sold to dis- 
charge their obligations by service, but not to 
any save "of the English nation." Negro sla- 
very was allowed. Parties intending marriage 
were required to make their intention public, 
"■ at least eight days before they engaged them- 
selves each to the other." Courtship, T\ithout 
the consent of the maid's parents or guardians, 
or, in their absence, of the nearest magistrate, 
was forbidden, under the penalty of fine or im- 
prisonment. 

The question as to the Delaware being left 



94 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1653. 

undecided bj the treaty with Stujvesant, a com- 
pany of fifty men, designing to settle where the 
town of New Castle now stands, embarked at 
New Haven, early in 1651. Stopping at Man- 
hattan, where they spoke freely of their inten- 
tions, the emigrants were summarily seized, 
and detained until a Dutch fort had been 
built on the very spot they had chosen for 
a plantation. Against this ^'direct violation" 
of the recent agreement. New Haven protested 
in strong language. AVar being presently de- 
clared between England and Holland, the Con- 
necticut colonies desired to attack New Nether- 
lands ; a proceeding they were chiefly incited to 
by alarm on account of a plot which the Dutch 
and Indians were alleged to have formed for their 
destruction. Though Stuyvesant indignantly 
denied all knowledge of such a plot, six of the 
eight New England commissioners, in May, 1653, 
determined on war. 

But, doubtful as to the justice of an offensive 
war, and insisting that the power to declare it 
resided only in the unanimous vote of the com- 
missioners, the Massachusetts general court re- 
fused to join with the other colonies. This re- 
fusal created a hot and angry dispute, during 
which the integrity of the union was more than 
once threatened. 

Meanwhile, to anticipate an apprehended at- 
tack from the Dutch, the western towns of New 



1654.] DEATH OF HAYNES. 95 

Haven, choosing Ludlow for their commander- 
in-chief, enlisted volunteers for an independent 
expedition against New Netherlands. This 
stretch of liberty the general court checked at 
once, and with considerable severity ; whereupon 
the indignant Ludlow put his goods on ship- 
board, and presently quitted the colony for 
ever. 

Finding Massachusetts not to be moved, the 
remaining confederates united in soliciting Crom- 
well, now Lord-Protector of England, to send 
out an expedition to join with them against the 
Dutch at New Netherlands. 

Waiting a reply, the Connecticut colonists, 
early in 1654, experienced a sorrowful calamity 
in the death of Haynes, their pious, able, and 
popular governor. In view of this affliction, to- 
gether with an apprehended dissolution of the 
confederacy, a general fast was observed early 
in the spring. 

The application to Cromwell was answered in 
June by the arrival of four ships of war, a 
small number of land forces, and authority 'to 
the united colonies to enlist additional troops. 
Active preparations were immediately made to 
raise seven hundred men ; Massachusetts so far 
co-operating as to permit the enlistment of volun- 
teers within her jurisdiction. But before the 
expedition was ready to sail, tidings came of a 
peace between England and Holland. The con- 



96 HISTORY OP CONNECTICUT. [1657. 

quest of New Netherlands was delayed for a sea- 
son. In the mean time, however, the Dutch had 
lost their only foothold in New England, the 
Connecticut general court having seized and se- 
questered the house and lands of Good Hope, in 
conformity with orders received from the British 
Parliament. 

Shortly after the peace, Massachusetts having 
made certain concessions, harmony was restored 
to the New England confederacy. Acting again 
in concert, the colonies presently quieted various 
Indian troubles, which had of late caused the 
people of Connecticut no small anxiety. 

At the election in May, 1655, Thomas Wells 
was chosen to succeed Hopkins as governor of 
Connecticut. The latter was then in England, 
where he soon after had printed at his own ex- 
pense, the code of laws recently compiled for 
the New Haven colonists. For the two years 
following the election of Wells, who was suc- 
ceeded, in 1656, by John Webster, the colonies 
quietly prospered. 

In 1657 John Winthrop was elected to the 
gubernatorial chair of Connecticut. It was du- 
ring this year that New Haven was called upon 
to mourn the loss of her first, and thus far, her 
only governor, Theophilus Eaton. Loved and 
respected for his many and engaging virtues, all 
New England regarded his death as a public 
affliction. In honour of his memory, the people 



1654.] CHURCH DISSENSIONS. 97 

of New Haven caused a handsome monument to 
be erected. The public position he had so long 
and worthily occupied was presently filled by 
Mr. Francis Newman. 

Scarcely had the colonists recovered from the 
shock of Governor Eaton's demise, when tidino^s 
came from England, announcing the death of 
his son-in-law, Edward Hopkins, but recently 
chief magistrate of Connecticut. In the last 
will of this estimable man, who had shared with 
Haynes the warm affections of the Connecticut 
people, a striking evidence was afforded of his 
liberal public spirit. That '' hopeful youth" 
might be encouraged " in a way of learning, for 
the public service in future times," he bequeath- 
ed to the colony a legacy of four hundred 
pounds, to found a grammar-school. From this 
endowment sprung the existing grammar-schools 
at Hartford and New Haven, and at Hadley in 
Massachusetts. 

Arising at Hartford about the year 1654, and 
gradually involving the churches of Connecticut, 
and of all New England, a warm controversy 
with regard to certain points of ecclesiastical 
polity was now creating most unhappy divisions 
in families, societies, and religious communities. 
While these dissensions were at their height, 
a few disciples of George Fox, the founder of 
the Society of Friends, made their appearance 
at Boston. With much toil and expense, and 

9 



98 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1659. 

harassed by many cares and sorrows, the Puri- 
tans had established for themselves a home in 
the wilderness, hoping to be there undisturbed 
in the practice of their religion. Against this 
religion, upon which rested the foundations of the 
civil government, the new sectaries, more zealous 
than discreet, inveighed bitterly. Already dis- 
tracted by internal differences, the New England 
people became alarmed. Consequently, in 1656, 
the confederate commissioners offered a recom- 
mendation, in accordance with which, Connecti- 
cut, together with the remaining colonies, enact- 
ed a law making it punishable with fine or im- 
prisonment to introduce Quakers into the colony, 
and imposing the penalty of stripes and coercive 
labour upon all members of the obnoxious sect 
who should come within her jurisdiction. Still 
more stringent laws were enacted during the two 
following years. In Connecticut and New Ha- 
ven, however, but few Quakers made their ap- 
pearance, and these were treated with a leniency 
strongly contrasting with the sanguinary policy 
of Massachusetts, where several of the offending 
zealots were put to death. Meanwhile the dis- 
sensions which had agitated the New England 
churches were so far composed that, in Novem- 
ber, 1659, a day of thanksgiving was proclaim- 
ed, in view of their speedy and final settlement. 
At the election in the previous May, Winthrop 
was chosen governor, in place of Wells, who had 



1660.] WINTHROP GOVERNOR. 99 

filled the executive chair during the year 1658. 
Winthrop was again elected in 1660, notwith- 
standing the law incapacitating the same person 
to be governor for two consecutive years. This 
law, however, was immediately afterward done 
away with, as being hurtful rather than advanta- 
geous to the interests of the colonists. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Charles II. King of England — Goffe and Whalley arrive at, 
Boston — Their arrest ordered — They fly to New Haven — 
Are pursued — New Haven authorities refuse a warrant for 
their arrest — They are secretly favoured by the colonists — 
Finally escape to Hadley — Course of Governor Leet cen- 
sured by Massachusetts— Dislike of the New Haven people 
for Charles II. — Their reluctance to acknowledge him king 
— Connecticut applies for a charter — Winthrop is appointed 
agent in procuring it — His character — His success — Demo- 
cratic character of the charter — New Haven included in it 
— People of that colony cling to their independence — Com- 
plain against the Connecticut authorities — Winthrop's letter 
on the subject — His return — His moderation and prudence 
— War between England and Holland — New Netherlands 
conquered by the English — Royal commissioners arrive 
at Boston — Consequent alarm of the colonists — New Ha- 
ven yields jurisdiction to Connecticut — Day of thanks- 
giving appointed — Political advantages of the colony — Its 
toleration — Rapid increase of population — Domestic cha- 
racteristics of the people — Economy in government — Town 
meetings — Their character — Their records. 

In July, 1660, tidings arrived at Boston of a 
momentous change in the piditical condition of 



100 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1661. 

the parent state. Following upon the death 
of Cromwell, a sudden revolution had seated 
Charles II. on the throne of Great Britain. By 
the same vessel which brought this intelligence 
came over Whalley and Goffe, two of the judges 
who had sentenced to death the father of the 
new king. So soon as it became certain that 
Charles would be proclaimed, justly apprehen- 
sive of his vengeance, they had fled to the Puri- 
tan colonies of America. 

Received with great courtesy and respect by 
the governor and other prominent persons of 
Massachusetts, the fugitive regicides remained in 
that colony several months, appearing often in 
public, with no attempt at disguise or conceal- 
ment. But, in the spring of 1661, a royal order 
for their arrest reaching Boston, they fled through 
the wilderness, and at New Haven found a tem- 
porary place of refuge, and a sympathizing 
friend in almost every colonist. 

For a time they dwelt there openly at the 
house of Davenport. But this period of secu- 
rity was brief in its duration. Two young royal- 
ists, to whom the execution of the order for 
their arrest had been intrusted, speedily came to 
New Haven in pursuit of the fugitives. Governor 
Leet and his council, however, had "tender 
consciences," and would give no warrant for 
their apprehension. Finding it impossible to 
remove the "oC?;uples" of the colonial authori- 



1661.] GOFFE AND WHALLEY. 101 

ties, the pursuers began a diligent search in the 
name of the king. Large rewards were offered 
to any one who should apprehend the fugitives. 
Secretly favoured by almost every person in the 
colony, they for a while escaped discovery, by 
removing from house to house. This resort 
failing them, they next found concealment in a 
mill on the outskirts of New Haven. Hunted 
from here, they fled to the woods, and then to 
the seaside, where they hid among the clefts of 
rocks. Having more than once barely avoided 
the sharpness- of pursuit, they at length found a 
more secure retreat in a cave on the brow of 
West Rock, not far from New Haven. Here 
they remained, frequently for weeks at a time, 
until their pursuers, wearied out, began to relax 
the vigour of search. 

After this the two regicides spent a consider- 
able time in the village of Milford, from which 
they finally effected a secret removal to Hadley, 
in Massachusetts, where a secure retreat had 
been provided for them. Here, after many 
years of concealment, Goffe died at an advanced 
age. The remains of Whalley now repose in 
the old burying-ground of New Haven. Beside 
them rest those of Dixwell, a third regicide, 
who, more fortunate than his fellow fugitives, 
married in New Haven, and lived there long and 
happily, with no attempt at concealment other 

than a change of name. 

9* 



102 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1661. 

The course of Governor Leet and his council, 
with regard to the regicides, caused much alarm 
in the other colonies. Massachusetts censured 
it severely, as endangering the liberties of all 
New England, by provoking the anger of the 
king. This view the fugitives themselves enter- 
tained. More than once, but for the interference 
of their friends, they would have delivered 
themselves up, in order that no evil might result 
to the colonies for harbouring them. 

Though the general court of New Haven made 
haste to exculpate themselves from the censure 
of Massachusetts, they nevertheless had for the 
new king a rooted dislike, which they with diffi- 
culty abstained from manifesting. Determined 
in their republicanism, even more so than their 
brethren of Massachusetts, they hesitated long 
to proclaim Charles as their sovereign. At 
length, finding that they alone, among the New 
England general courts, were thus tacitly rebel- 
lious, and therefore dangerously prominent, they 
reluctantly, and with almost Spartan brevity, 
acknowledged themselves " to be his majesty's 
loyal and faithful subjects," on the 21st of Au- 
gust, 1661. 

This acknowledgment the general court of 
Connecticut had made much earlier ; probably 
to gain favour with Charles, to whom they had 
already determined to apply for a charter. At 
length, having taken the precaution to draft the 



1661.] CHARTER GRANTED. 103 

desired instrument among themselves, they se- 
lected Governor Winthrop to solicit the king's 
assent to it. 

Embarking for England about midsummer, 
Winthrop bore with him a letter to Lord Say, 
the early friend of Connecticut, and now a 
favoured crown officer, whose influence and ad- 
vice the colonists requested, in the language of 
sincere respect and earnest affection. The warm- 
hearted old man readily complied. Unfitted, 
himself, by age for active exertion, he easily in- 
duced " the obliging and generous" Earl of Man- 
chester to join with him and Winthrop, ''that 
their godly friends in New England might enjoy 
their just rights and liberties." 

In addition to these and other active friends, 
the Connecticut envoy had in himself excellent 
sureties for the .success of his mission. Learned 
as well in the ways of men and of the world as 
in books, with an unspotted character, of gentle 
manners and most engaging address, Yv^inthrop 
found " favour in the eyes of all with whom he 
had to do," and nothing that his quietly-enter- 
prising spirit ever undertook had been known to 
fail. With the king his success was signal. 
Having first shown to the monarch a singular 
ring — the gift of the first Charles to Winthrop 's 
grandfather — he then presented the petition of 
Connecticut. Touched hj the sight of a relic 
which recalled the memory of a father he had 



104 HISTOPtY OF CONNECTICUT. [1662. 

dearly loved, the heart of Charles was won. 
With scarcely any hesitation, a charter, surpris- 
ingly liberal and democratic, was granted to the 
«' Governor and Company of Connecticut in New 
England," on the 20th of April, 1662. 

The boundaries of the colony, according to 
this instrument, varied little from those laid down 
in the original patent to Warwick. New Haven 
consequently became absorbed into Connecticut ; 
but not, as will presently be seen, without an 
eifort to retain independence. At the same time 
the basis was laid of a claim to those western 
lands, from the sale of which has since accrued 
the present school fund of the state. 

By her charter, Connecticut was virtually in- 
dependent. The freemen of the colony, all in- 
habitants of " civil, peaceable, and honest con- 
versation," possessing twenty-pound estates, 
besides personal property, were allowed to 
choose annually from among themselves a go- 
vernor, magistrates, and representatives, with 
full executive, legislative, and judicial authority. 
Upon their acts the king reserved no negative ; 
and all judicial decisions were final in the co- 
lony. Every privilege ''of free and natural 
subjects within the realm" was granted to the 
colonists. 

Grateful to Winthrop for his services, Con- 
necticut, soon after the charter was received, 
again elected him governor, though he was yet 



1662.] DISPUTE WITH NEW HAVEX. 105 

in England. To that office he continued to be 
annually chosen until his death. 

Loath to have obliterated the distinct common- 
wealth they had created with so much trouble 
and expense, and preferring their own spiritual 
qualification of church-membership to the free- 
hold one established by the late charter, a large 
majority of the people of New Haven sturdily 
refused to come under the jurisdiction of Con- 
necticut. It was their best way, they said, "to 
stand as God had kept them to that time." But 
some of the inhabitants of Guilford, Greenwich, 
and Stamford presently signifying their desire 
to enjoy the protection and privileges of Con- 
necticut, these towns were taken into her juris- 
diction. " Exceedingly grieved and afflicted" 
by this proceeding, the New Haven general court, 
testifying against it, '^ in the sight of God, an- 
gels, and men," appealed to the king. 

Winthrop, who was still in England, at once 
wrote the Connecticut court a letter, the sub- 
stance of which is given : — 

" Gentlemen, — I am informed that since you 
had the late patent, injury hath been done to 
the government at New Haven. I do hope the 
rise of it is from misunderstanding and not 
from prejudice to that colon}^, for whom I gave 
assurance that their rights and interests should 
not be disquieted by the patent : but if both go- 
vernments would, with unanimous agreement, 



106 HISTORY or CONNECTICUT. [1663. 

unite in one, it was judged for their advantage. 
Now, in future, to prevent a tedious, chargeable 
trial here, and uncertain event, there will be no 
imposing upon New Haven ; but all things will 
be acted as between loving and neighbouring 
colonies. Unto this I judge you are obliged, I 
having engaged to their agent here that it will 
be by you performed. Upon consideration, there 
may be such a right understanding between both 
governments, that a friendly union may be es- 
tablished, to the satisfaction of all ; which, at 
my arrival, I shall also endeavour (God willing) 
to promote." 

This letter, however, wrought no change in 
the conduct of Connecticut toward the people 
of New Haven ; whose " proceeding as a distinct 
jurisdiction," the general court declared "they 
could not but resent." The dispute now became 
angry. While it was at its height, Connecticut 
found herself hotly assailed by Massachusetts 
and New Netherlands, for having, under the 
warrant of her charter, exercised jurisdiction 
over certain towns claimed by those colonies. 

At this juncture Winthrop returned, having 
assisted, before leaving England, at the forma- 
tion of the Royal Society. He at once en- 
deavoured to conciliate the people of New Haven. 
The task was one of difficulty. They refused 
to treat, until Connecticut should revoke the 



1664.] ARRIVAL OF COMMISSIONERS. 107 

authority already claimed over some of their 
towns. 

. While AYinthrop, by the exercise of modera- 
tion and prudence, was slowly winning over New 
Haven to a union, events happened which mate- 
rially lightened his labour, and hastened the de- 
sired result. 

On the 12th of March, 1664, Charles L, with 
a singular disregard of the chartered liberties 
of Connecticut, granted to his brother, the Duke 
of York, the whole territory lying between the 
Connecticut and Delaware Rivers. New Nether- 
lands being comprised in this patent, it became 
necessary to subdue the occupants of that pro- 
vince. For this purpose, in July, a fleet arrived 
at Boston ; whence it presently proceeded to 
Manhattan, receiving Winthrop on board during 
the voyage. Stuyvesant, the brave old governor 
there, vainly attempted to resist the unexpected 
invasion. But the terms of the English were 
easy, the Dutch inhabitants were careless of the 
result, and Stuyvesant, through the mediation 
of Winthrop, was at length induced to capitu- 
late. By this bloodless victory. New Nether- 
lands was united to the dominions of Great 
Britain, and the New England people relieved 
of a great source of anxiety. 

But with the fleet by which this conquest was 
efi'ected came commissioners from the king, to 
investigate certain charges against the New 



108 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1664. 

England colonies, and to settle the disputes 
lately arisen among them. Having reason to 
apprehend that their charter would be taken 
from them, the Massachusetts people were filled 
with alarm. All New England shared in their 
forebodings of evil, which the arbitrary conduct 
of the commissioners during their brief stay at 
Boston, previous to the invasion of New Nether- 
lands, was in no way calculated to dispel. 
Nevertheless, in Connecticut, the commissioners 
were received with a show, at least, of great re- 
spect ; which contrasted, quite favourably to the 
colony, with the chilly welcome they had met at 
Boston. Nor was Winthrop's urbanity without 
its usual success. Notwithstanding the king's 
recent patent to his brother, the boundary be- 
tween Connecticut and New Netherlands was 
left undisturbed. Long Island, however, went 
to the Duke of York. But, again favouring 
Connecticut, the commissioners gave no counte- 
nance to a claim, then lately advanced by the 
Duke of Hamilton, to a large tract of territory 
in the colony. 

Meanwhile the New Haven people had been 
urged to hasten a union with Connecticut, as a 
proceeding necessary, not only for their own 
liberty, but for that of all New England. Moved 
by this representation, and by the untiring soli- 
citation of "VYinthrop, reluctantly, and with 
many misgivings, they at last yielded up '' the 



1665.] POLITICAL ADVANTAaES. ' 109 

house which wisdom had built for them and their 
posterity." In the spring of 1665, the united 
colonies elected Winthrop governor, and Mason 
deputy-governor. Connecticut, as thus consoli- 
dated, contained nineteen towns, distributed 
among the three counties of New Haven, Hart- 
ford, and New London. 

In November following the final act of union, 
a day was set apart for returning thanks " to 
the Supreme Benefactor, for preventing the 
troubles they had feared, and for the blessings 
of liberty, health, peace, and plenty." 

" And the gratitude of Connecticut" — we ab- 
breviate from Bancroft — " was reasonable. The 
charter Winthrop had obtained secured to her 
an existence of tranquillity. Civil freedom was 
safe. The minds of the yeomanry were kept 
active by the constant exercise of the elective 
franchise. There was no such thing in the co- 
lony as an officer appointed by the English* king. 
The government was in honest and upright 
hands. The magistrates were sometimes per- 
sons of no ordinary endowments ; but though 
gifts of learning and genius were valued, the 
state was content with virtue and single minded- 
ness." 

As we have seen, "there never existed a per- 
secuting spirit in Connecticut. Roger Williams 
had ever been a welcome guest at Hartford ; and 
< that heavenly man, John Haynes,' would say 

10 



110 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1665. 

to him, ' I think, Mr. Williams, I must now con- 
fesse to you that the most wise God hath pro- 
vided this part of the world as a refuge for all 
sorts of consciences.' 

i' Education was cherished, religious knowledge 
was carried to the highest degree of refinement. 
A hardy race multiplied along the alluvions of 
streams, and suhdued the more rocky and less 
inviting fields. If, as has been often said, the 
ratio of the increase of population is the surest 
criterion of public happiness, Connecticut was 
long the happiest state in the world. 

"There was nothing morose in the Connecti- 
cut character. It was temperate industry en- 
joying the abundance which it had created. No 
great inequalities of condition excited envy, or 
raised political feuds. Wealth could display 
itself only in a larger house and a fuller barn ; 
and covetousness was satisfied by the tranquil 
succession of harvests. For a foreign market 
little was produced besides cattle ; and in return 
for them but few foreign luxuries stole in. 

<' There was for a long time hardly a lawyer 
in the land. The husbandman who held his own 
plough, and fed his own cattle, was the great 
man of the age. No one was superior to the 
matron, who, with her busy daughters, kept the 
hum of the wheel incessantly alive, spinning and 
weaving evqry article of their dress. Fashion 
was confined within narrow limits. Pride, which 



1665.] ECONOMY IN GOVERNMENT. Ill 

aimed at no grander equipage than a pillion, 
could exult only in the common splendour of the 
blue and white linen gown, with short sleeves, 
coming down to the w^aist, and in the snow- 
white flaxen apron, which, primly starched and 
ironed, was worn on public days by every wo- 
man in the land. 

" The frugality of private life had its influence 
on public expenditure. Half a century after 
the concession of the charter, the annual ex- 
penses of the government did not exceed four 
thousand dollars ; and the wages of the chief 
justice were ten shillings a day while on service. 

" In the ancient republics, citizenships had 
been an hereditary privilege. In Connecticut 
citizenship was acquired by inhabitancy, was 
lost by removal. Each town meeting was a 
little legislature ; and all inhabitants, the aflluent 
and the more needy, the w^ise and the foolish, 
were members with franchises. There the taxes 
of the town were discussed and levied ; there 
the village officers were chosen ; there the mi- 
nister was elected, the representatives to the as- 
sembly were instructed. The, debate was open 
to all. Whoever reads the records of the village 
democracies, will be perpetually coming upon 
some little document of political wisdom, which 
breathes the freshness of rural legislation, and 
wins a disproportioned interest, from the justice 
and simplicity of the times. As the progress 



112 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1665. 

of society required exertions in a wider field, 
tlie public mind was quickened by associations 
tbat were blended with early history ; and when 
Connecticut emerged from the quiet of its origin, 
and made its way into scenes where a new poli- 
tical world was to be erected, the sagacity that 
had regulated the affairs of the village gained 
admiration in the field and in council." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Prosperity of Connecticut — Apprehension of trouble — The 
Duke of York claims jurisdiction to the Connecticut — Ed- 
mund Andross governor of the duke's province — Embarks 
to seize Fort Saybrook — Connecticut militia sent to oppose 
him — He attempts to assume authority — Is overawed by the 
determined conduct of Captain Bull — Returns to New York 
— King Philip's war — Its origin — Massacre at Swanzey — 
Philip a fugitive — Frontier towns of Massachusetts destroyed 
— Fearful character of the war — Exemption of Connecticut 
from its immediate horrors — Preparations for defence — Ex- 
pedition against the Narragansets — Their fort attacked — 
Their obstinate resistance — Colonists finally victorious — 
Narraganset fort burned — Connecticut captains killed in 
the fight — Sufferings of the fugitive Indians — Their despair 
and fury — 'Connecticut volunteer companies — Canonchet 
captured by Captai* Denison's men — His execution — Pur- 
suit of Philip — He is shot by one of his own tribe — Death 
of Winthrop — William Leet governor — State of the colony 
in 1680 — Rogerenes. 

For a period of nearly nine years from 1665, 
Connecticut enjoyed an undisturbed existence. 
During these years of quiet prosperity, nothing 



1675.] CLAIM OF DUKE OF YORK. 113 

of marked historical importance occurred within 
her borders. Many new towns sprung up, mean- 
while, under the shelter of her free institutions ; 
and her population continued to increase steadily 
and rapidly ; though even at this early day that 
tide of emigration was setting outward, the con- 
stant flow of which has carried to almost every 
town and village of the Union, at least one re- 
presentative of the Connecticut people. 

Early in 1674, however, these "halcyon days 
of peace" began to be overclouded. Singularly 
forgetful of the decision of his own commissioners, 
King Charles, renewing the patent of New York 
to his brother James, a second time extended the 
eastern boundary of that province to the Con- 
necticut. To vindicate his jurisdiction over the 
territory thus unjustly granted to him, the Duke 
of York found a subservient tool in Edmund 
Andross, whom he presently commissioned as 
governor of his American possessions. 

Andross did not long delay making the attempt. 
Early in July, 1675, having organized a military 
and naval expedition, he embarked at New York 
for Fort Saybrook, of which he designed to take 
possession. Of this movement the Connecticut 
assembly received timely information. Hastily 
convening, they hurried off to the fort a detach- 
ment of militia, under the command of Captain 
Bull, a man of tried courage and resolute spirit. 
They then voted unanimously a proclamation, 

10- 



114 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1675. 

declaring their resolution to maintain their char- 
tered rights at all hazard, and commanding the 
"good people of Connecticut to utterly refuse 
to countenance or obey" Andross, or any of his 
subordinates. This proclamation an express bore 
to Captain Bull. 

Before that gallant officer could reach Say- 
brook, Andross appeared in the river. Though 
at first doubtful as to what they had best do, the 
fishermen and farmers of the neighbourhood 
speedily determined to defend the fort. Pre- 
sently joined by Bull, they made every prepara- 
tion to give Andross a warlike reception. On 
the 11th of July, the latter anchored his fleet 
off the fort, and, hoisting the king's colours, sum- 
moned the garrison to surrender. At this junc- 
ture Bull received the assembly's proclamation. 

He immediately responded to the summons of 
Andross by running up the English flag. De- 
spairing of success in an assault, and hesitating 
to fire upon the national standard, Andross was 
reduced to the necessity of trying persuasion. 
At his own request, he was permitted to land 
with a small retinue. Rejecting Bull's proposal 
to have the dispute referred to commissioners, 
he assumed authority, and in the king's name 
ordered the duke's patent to be read in the hear- 
ing of the colonial militia. But no sooner had 
his secretary commenced reading, than the Con- 
necticut captain, in the name of the king, com- 



1675.] INDIAN WAR. 115 



mancled him to stop. For a moment the clerk 
persisted. With startling energy of voice and 
manner, Bull reiterated his command. The 
reader did not deem it safe to refuse obedience. 
Overawed, but complaining bitterly of the as- 
sembly's ingratitude, Andross, escorted by the 
militia, withdrew to his boat, and set sail for 
New York. 

Incensed at this attempted aggression, the 
Connecticut assembly drew up a declaration of 
the wrongs Andross had done them, and, having 
sealed it with the colony's seal, despatched 
copies of it to the neighbouring plantations, to 
be there made public. 

Meanwhile, an Indian war had broken out in 
the eastern colonies, and now threatened to 
involve all New England in its sanguinary 
horrors. 

The most powerful and warlike of the abori- 
ginal tribes, at this time within the borders of 
New England, were the Wampanoags and Nar- 
ragansets ; the former inhabiting what is now 
the county of Bristol, in Rhode Island, and the 
latter, the western shore of the beautiful bay 
which yet preserves their name. Crowded into 
these narrow limits by the encroaching tide of 
civilization, no less than seventeen hundred war- 
riors had grown restless and irritable, under the 
restraints to which the English subjected them. 
Canonchet, chief of the Narragansets, also re- 



116 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1675. 

membered the wrongs inflicted upon Miantonimo, 
his unfortunate father. 

Upon Pometacom, or Philip of Mount Hope, 
chief of the Wampanoags, suspicion of hostile 
designs had rested for several years; though 
hitherto his tribe had heen the unwavering 
friends of the colonists. In consequence of this 
suspicion, he had been compelled to surrender 
his English arms, and to pay a burdensome tri- 
bute. Presently accused again — this time by 
an Indian convert, whom he had formerly em- 
ployed — of planning the extermination of the 
whites, Philip was summoned to answer to the 
charge. Having promptly obeyed this sum- 
mons, the haughty chieftain was hesitatingly 
allowed to return to his tribe, no satisfactory 
proof being offered to sustain the charge against 
him. Soon afterward, however, his Indian ac- 
cuser was found murdered. Suspicion falling 
immediately upon three of Philip's men, they 
were arrested by the authorities of Plymouth, 
tried by a jury of Indians and whites, convicted, 
and hanged. Their exasperated brethren re- 
taliated by assaulting the town of Swanzey, and 
killing nine of the inhabitants. Philip is said 
to have shed tears when he received tidings of 
this onslaught ; but the blow his tribe had struck 
in a moment of passion, the proud spirit of the 
chieftain would not permit him to recall. 

Startled, but not dismayed, by this confirma- 



I 



1675.] RAVAGES OF THE INDIANS. 117 

tion of their worst fears, the colonists of Ply- 
mouth and Massachusetts at once took up arms. 
In less than a month Philip was a fugitive from 
the home of his ancestors. Finding refuge 
among the inland tribes, he speedily induced 
them to take up the hatchet, and join him in a 
desperate attempt to exterminate the whites. 

For a short period during the fierce contest 
that ensued, the savages seemed to be omnipre- 
sent. Scarcely one of the frontier towns of 
Massachusetts and Plymouth escarped the fury 
of their first onset. Brookfield and Deerfield 
were burned; Northfield, Hadley, and Spring- 
field, attacked and partially destroyed. Three 
bands of the colonists, numbering in all one hun- 
dred and thirty chosen men, successively fell 
victims to the cunning and vigilance of outlying 
Indians. Everywhere were conflagrations, mas- 
sacres, and frightened women and children flying 
from death. The labour of years was swept away 
in a few weeks. Civilization seemed about to be 
driven back into the Atlantic. 

Her Indian inhabitants proving faithful, Con- 
necticut was exempted from the immediate hor- 
rors of the war, though her people suffered in- 
tensely from alarm and apprehension. Many of 
them took the field, however; and, led by the 
gallant Major Treat, afibrded most efi'ective as- 
sistance to the western settlements of Massa- 
chusetts. It appearing probable that a simulta- 



118 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1675. 

neous attack would be presently made on all the 
frontier towns, the assembly, in October, 1675, 
ordered the enlistment of four companies of 
dragoons, each numbering sixty men, for the 
immediate defence of the colony, and to act 
against the enemy wherever their services might 
be needed. Every town was required to be 
strongly fortified, and to have a place of security 
where the women and children might take refuge 
on the first intimation of danger. All inhabitants 
unable to bear arms, were advised to remove into 
the more populous parts of the colony. 

As yet, the powerful confederacy of the Nar- 
ragansets had not entered openly into the con- 
test ; early in the commencement of which they 
were constrained to deliver up hostages for the 
maintenance of peace. But as the winter ap- 
proached, the opinion became general that they 
had broken their pledges, by secretly sheltering 
and aiding the hostile tribes. It was determined 
to treat them as enemies. A thousand men were 
immediately enlisted by the united colonies, and 
sent into the Narraganset country. Of this 
force, three hundred were from Connecticut, 
under the command of Major Treat. 

Spending the previous night in the open air, 
these troops, led by Josiah Winslow, about day- 
break of Sunday, December the 19th, began 
their march to attack the chief stronghold of the 
enemy, situated in an extensive swamp, near the 



1675.] OBSTINATE BATTLE. 119 

present town of South Kingston, in Rhode 
Island. The ground being covered with a deep 
snow, their march of fifteen miles was slow, la- 
borious, and painful. Swiftly following a scout- 
ing party of Indians, who fled before them as 
they entered the swamp, the van of the Massa- 
chusetts men came in sight of the fort, built 
upon a rising ground in the centre of the swamp, 
and encircled by a dense and almost impenetra- 
ble hedge. Apparently the only practicable en- 
trance into this stronghold was a narrow way, 
over a large log raised some five feet from the 
ground, and exposed to a cross fire from a block- 
house in front, and a breastwork along one side. 
Pausing scarcely a moment to breathe, the as- 
sailants faced the deadly fire that here met them, 
and gained the interior of the fort. Being un- 
supported, after a sanguinary struggle, in which 
two captains fell, they were driven back. At 
this juncture the Connecticut troops came up. 
The assault was renewed with hopeful vigour, 
and the fort again entered. Long and obstinate- 
ly resisting, the savages yielded only when, 
gaining the rear, a fresh body of colonists at- 
tacked them with fatal efiect. Then all was lost. 
As they broke and fled, burning brands were 
thrown among their wigwams. In a few mo- 
ments, six hundred of these were in flames. Ter- 
rible and sickening were the sights and sounds 
that followed. High above the roar of the con- 



120 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1675. 

flagration, and the shouts of the victors, and the 
yells of the flying savages, were heard the shrill 
shrieks of more than a hundred old men, women, 
and children, perishing horribly by fire. Even 
the authors of this fearful destruction were ap- 
palled at it ; and many began to doubt whether 
" it could be consistent with humanity, and the 
benevolent principles of the gospel." 

Though complete, the victory was dearly pur- 
chased. For three hundred Indians slain, and 
less than six hundred prisoners, mostly women 
and children, the lives of eighty of the most 
valuable colonists had been expended. Half this 
number was mourned by Connecticut ; and of 
her five captains, three — Seely, Marshal, and 
Gallup — fell dead while leading on their troops ; 
a fourth — John Mason — received wounds which 
finally terminated his life. 

Driven into the woods and swamps, with no- 
thing to protect them from the rigorous season, 
almost without food, and pursued by the colo- 
nists with the pertinacity of hate, the fugitive 
barbarians perished by hundreds from exposure, 
famine, and sheer exhaustion. The survivors 
grew desperate. Town after town was laid 
waste by their fury. Yet they had no hope of 
ultimate success. The stubborn and untiring 
energy of the New England men pursued them 
everywhere ; some were taken captive and en- 
slaved or executed; others fled to the northern 



1676.] CAPTURE OF CANONCHET. 121 

lakes ; many were slain in iSglit ; a few submitted 
to the conquerors. 

Among the numerous armed volunteers who, 
led by captains of activity and courage, con- 
tributed to relieve the colonies of their infuriated 
foes, none were more serviceable than those of 
Connecticut. Early in April, 1676, one of these 
companies, headed by Captain Denison of Ston- 
ington, while hunting out the scattered fugi- 
tives, came suddenly upon a large and powerful 
Indian. Flying, he was pursued. Crossing a 
brook, he slipped on a stone and fell. At this 
moment a Pequod runner laid hands on him. 
His great strength might have availed him, but 
he made no resistance. The prisoner was Ca- 
nonchet, chief sachem of the Narragansets. A 
young colonist presently approaching, began 
to question him : — " You are a child," he said ; 
" you do not understand war : let your captain 
come ; him I will answer." His life was oftered 
him, if he would procure a treaty of peace ; but 
he rejected the proposal scornfully. When told 
that he was condemned to death — " I like it 
well," said the heroic captive; "I shall die be- 
fore my heart is soft, before I have spoken any 
thing unworthy of myself." Borne in triumph 
to Stonington, he was there shot by two In- 
dians. His head was then cut off and carried 
to Hartford. 

A similarly bloody fate awaited Philip, the 

11 



122 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1676. 

unfortunate author of the war. So soon as suc- 
cess seemed to be entirely with the English, the 
savages quarrelled among themselves, and the 
warriors of Philip began to desert him. Still 
he persisted in the now hopeless struggle, strik- 
ing dead the chief who proposed that he should 
submit. At length, having vainly sought the 
alliance of the Mohawks, he returned with a few 
faithful followers to the hunting-grounds of his 
fathers. Here his wife and son were presently 
captured by the English. '' My heart breaks," 
was his despairing exclamation; «' now I am 
ready to die." But a few days afterward he was 
shot by the brother of the chief he had slain for 
proposing peace. 

Thus ended King Philip's war, the most disas- 
trous that New England ever experienced. In 
little more than a year, thirteen villages had 
been destroyed, six hundred houses laid in ashes, 
and more than that number of the colonists, 
mostly young men, had fallen beneath the fury 
of the savages. Destructive as the contest had 
been to the victors, it was trebly so to the con- 
quered. The two powerful tribes engaged in it 
were virtually exterminated. 

While the war was yet raging, in April, 1676, 
Connecticut met with a serious loss, in the death 
of her learned and excellent governor and bene- 
factor, John Winthrop, full of years and honours, 
and leaving a name that should not be forgotten. 



1680.] STATE OF THE COLONY. 123 

The pure and upright William Leet, formerly 
governor of New Haven, was presently chosen 
to succeed Winthrop, and continued to fill the 
guhernatorial chair until his death, in 1683. 

From a report forwarded in 1680, to the Eng- 
lish Committee of Trade, some interesting par- 
ticulars are gathered in regard to the condition 
of Connecticut at that period. The population 
is not stated ; but judging from the number of 
enrolled militia — twenty-five hundred — it could 
not have been less than eleven thousand, distri- 
buted among four counties and twenty-six towns.. 
Of this population, about thirty were negro 
slaves. 

The entire commercial marine, owned in the 
colony, consisted of four ships and twenty-three 
smaller vessels, with a tonnage of about five 
thousand tons. Boston and the West Indies 
were the chief places with which trade was car- 
ried on. The most important exports were lum- 
ber, provisions, and horses, valued at nine thou- 
sand pounds sterling a year. No impost duties 
were levied, except on wine and liquors, the re- 
venues from which were appropriated to the 
support of free schools. Labour being dear and 
provisions cheap, there was no such thing as a 
beggar or vagabond in the colony ; or, if any 
such did make their appearance, they were im- 
mediately bound out to service. 

<' Strict" and "large" Congregationalism was 



124 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1681. 

the religion of most of the people. A few 
Friends were unmolested in the observance of 
their particular tenets. There were, also, in the 
colony, some twenty members of a new and cu- 
rious sect of the Baptists, called Kogerenes, 
after their founder, Jonathan Rogers of New 
London, but better known as the Seventh-Day 
Baptists, from their distinguishing tenet, that 
of observing the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday, 
instead of the customary Christian one. Per- 
sisting in performing labour on Sundays, they 
would then inform upon themselves — a proceed- 
ing which usually resulted in their imprisonment 
for a brief period. Finding no warrant in the 
Bible for family prayers or grace at meal times, 
they denounced both as vain ceremonials ; while 
in their estimation, to take physic, was to thwart 
the providence of God. 



1683.] MAJOR TREAT GOVERNOR. 125 



CHAPTER IX. 

Robert Treat governor — Territorial dispute with Rhode Island 
— Conduct of that colony — Dispute finally terminates unfa- 
vourably to Connecticut — James II. King of England — His 
scheme to consolidate the New England colonies — Quo war- 
rantos served upon Connecticut — Prudent course of the as- 
sembly — Andross appointed governor of New England — 
Meets the Connecticut assembly — Demands the charter — 
It is secretly borne away — Andross assumes authority — Ends 
the records of the assembly — Revolution in England — An- 
dross's authority overthrown — Connecticut charter repro- 
duced — Assembly addresses King William — English lawyers 
declare the charter of Connecticut unimpaired — War between 
France and England— French and Indian war parties attack 
the frontiers of New York and Massachusetts — Expeditions 
against Canada — Their ill success — Designs of the English 
crown upon the liberties of Connecticut — Fletcher commis- 
sioned to command its militia — Opposition of the assembly 
— Winthrop bears a petition to the king — Rage of Fletcher 
— He attempts to assume command of the troops — Is thwart- 
ed by the courage of Captain Wadsworth — Course of Con- 
necticut sustained by the crown lawyers — Rejoicings in 

_ consequence — Winthrop returns — His reception — Peace. 

After the death of Governor Leet, in 1683, 
the gubernatorial chair of Connecticut was for 
many years filled by Major Robert Treat, whose 
services during the recent Indian war had gained 
him a deserved popularity. The year in which 
he was first elected proved one of calamities to 
the planters of the colony. A deadly sickness 

11* 



126 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1685. 

prevailed, sweeping off great numbers, especially 
of the clergy. Freshets in many of the streams 
destroyed much valuable property and some 
lives ; while the harvests were so scanty as to 
cause considerable anxiety and a little distress. 

Late in October, the new governor and his 
council had a conference with Dongan of New 
York^ during which the boundary line between 
the two colonies was amicably adjusted, nearly 
in accordance with the one now existing. A 
territorial dispute with Rhode Island terminated 
neither so soon nor so satisfactorily. This same 
year the rival claims of Connecticut and of that 
colony to lands in the Narraganset country were 
referred for settlement to certain royal commis- 
sioners. Rhode Island objected to these, how- 
ever ; and when they attempted to hold a confer- 
ence in the disputed territory, they were warned 
off by the heralds of that colony. Thereupon 
adjourning to Boston, the commissioners decided 
in favour of the claims of Connecticut. But 
Rhode Island questioned the justice of this deci- 
sion ; and for nearly fifty years longer the dis- 
pute gave rise to much vexatious and expensive 
litigation, and finally terminated unfavourably 
to Connecticut. 

Charles II. dying in 1685, his brother, th^ 
Duke of York, ascended the English throne, 
as James II. Avaricious and fond of power, 
the new king hastened to execute a scheme he 



1687.] SCHEME OP JAMES. 127 

seems to have long before concocted — the con- 
solidation, and complete subjection to royal 
authority, of all the New England colonies. 
Massachusetts having been already deprived of 
her charter, and Plymouth never possessing one, 
it only remained to wrest away those of Con- 
necticut and Rhode Island. Charged with cer- 
tain misdemeanours, the former colony was 
presently served w^ith three successive writs of 
quo warranto. Alarm and hesitation for a while 
pervaded the councils of the commonwealth, but 
it waa^ determined not to surrender the charter. 
Knowing that the cause was already prejudged 
against them, the assembly did not deem it worth 
while to employ counsel. Endeavouring more to 
elude than to repel the blow aimed at them, they 
threw themselves upon the king's clemency, and 
desired that, if their independence was to be 
taken away, they might be united to Massa- 
chusetts rather than to New York. This move 
eventually saved the charter ; inasmuch as James, 
hastily and erroneously construing it into a sur- 
render of the coveted instrument, at once stayed 
proceedings on the quo warranto, and they were 
never afterward urged to a judicial decision. 

Acting upon the king's construction of the 
desire Connecticut had expressed, Andross, lately 
appointed governor of New England, in the 
autumn of 1687, attended by seventy soldiers, 
set out from Boston, and travelled across the 



128 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1687. 

country to Hartford, to assume authority over 
the colony. Meeting the assembly which was 
then in session, he demanded the charter. After 
some parley, it was produced and laid on the 
clerk's table. A long and earnest debate ensued. 
The brave old Governor Treat plead feelingly for 
the liberties of his people, showing with what 
an outlay of labour, and treasure, and blood, 
they had been purchased ; and how like parting 
with life it was to surrender the cherished in- 
strument of their security. Evening came on 
while the debate was purposely protracted, and 
an excited throng of resolute farmers and towns- 
men gathered around the house where the council 
was assembled. It grew dark, and lights were 
brought, the charter still lying upon the table. 
The front windows of the council-chamber were 
low, and the heat of the weather rendered it 
necessary to keep them open. Of a sudden, 
some of the throng outside threw their jackets 
into the open windows, and thus extinguished the 
lights. These were speedily rekindled ; but the 
charter had disappeared. In the darkness. Cap- 
tain Wadsworth, of Hartford, stealing noiselessly 
from the room, bore the precious document to 
the concealment of a hollow oak, fronting the 
house, where it was deposited, not to be brought 
to light again until happier times. Spared from 
the axe, on account of its great size, when the 
forest was first cleared, the "charter oak" still 



1687.] MEASURES OF ANDROSS. 129 

stands as the memento of an anxious period in 
the history of Connecticut. 

Thwarted in all his efforts to recover the ab- 
stracted charter, Andross nevertheless assumed 
the chief authority ; and appointing Treat and 
Fitz-John Winthrop members of his council, with 
his own hand closed the records of the colonial 
assembly in these words : — 

"At a general court at Hartford, October 31st, 
1687, his excellency Sir Edmund Andross, cap- 
tain-general and governor of his majesty's do- 
minion^ in New England, by order from his 
majesty, took into his hands the government of 
the colony of Connecticut, it being annexed to 
Massachusetts, and other colonies under his 
excellency's government. 

FINIS." 

But the existence of Connecticut as an inde- 
pendent commonwealth was not to be thus ter- 
minated. Yet, for nearly two years, the colonists 
mourned for their chartered liberties as if they 
were forever lost. Much, too, they suffered, 
meanTN^ile, from the arbitrary measures of the 
new governor ; but still far less than the people 
of Massachusetts, who were under his immediate 
supervision. A great deal of the leniency thus 
shown toward Connecticut, was undoubtedly due 
to the influence and affectionate interference of 
Treat and Winthrop, who, as members of An- 



130 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1689. 

dross' council, had the principal management of 
the colony's affairs. 

Yet, though borne with a kind of desponding 
acquiescence, the administration of Andross was 
irksome and odious, and ultimately might have 
aroused a violent outbreak of colonial indigna- 
tion. But events presently transpired in Eng- 
land, which brought it to a conclusion as abrupt 
as it had been unexpected. In April, 1689, im- 
mediately on receiving rumours that a bloodless 
revolution had driven James II. from his throne, 
the people of Boston assembled in arms, and 
declared in favour of the new sovereign, William, 
Prince of Orange. The obnoxious Andross, 
deriving his authority from the deposed James, 
was seized and confined. A few weeks after- 
ward, the rumours which had induced this action 
were fully confirmed. 

Meanwhile, the charter of Connecticut had 
been brought from its hiding-place, and Treat 
tigain chosen governor. The assembly, convening 
on the 13th of June, proclaimed the new sove- 
reign "with great joy and ceremony." "Great 
was that day" — thus ran their address to the 
king — " Great was that day wKen the Lord, who 
sitteth upon the floods, did divide his and your 
adversaries like the waters of Jordan, and did 
begin to magnify you like Joshua, by those great 
actions that were so much for the honour of God, 
and the deliverance of the English dominions 



1689.] CHARTER DECLARED VALID. 131 

from popery and slavery." Declaring they had 
been "surprised by Andross into an involuntary 
submission to an arbitrary power," they an- 
nounced that they had "presumed, by the con- 
sent of a major part of the freemen, to resume 
the government," according to the rules of their 
charter. For this they entreated "his majesty's 
most gracious pardon ;" and besides, expressed 
a hope that their former liberties would be con- 
firmed. 

This address the king received favourably. 
With regard to the validity of the Connecticut 
charter, the opinions of several English lawyers 
were asked. Replies came, " that the charter, 
not being surrendered under the common seal, 
nor that surrender duly recorded," had never 
been invalidated in any of its powers, and was 
still good in law. This being the case, William 
had no opportunity to renew it; a circumstance 
for which the Connecticut people could not have 
been otherwise than thankful, when they saw the 
charter of Massachusetts restored with many of 
its important democratic features obliterated or 
modified. 

Meantime war had been declared between 
England and France. Prevented from invading 
New York by the necessity of protecting his own 
territories from an irruption of the Iroquois, 
Frontenac, the governor of Canada, incited his 
Indian allies to undertake several smaller expe- 



132 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1690. 

ditions against the frontier settlements of the 
English. 

Early in February, 1690, a party of French 
and Indians from Montreal, after wading f(Tr two 
and twenty days through the snow, at midnight 
fell suddenly upon the village of Schenectady. 
Many houses were burned : sixty of the English, 
men, women, and children, suffered death, at- 
tended by the most horrible barbarities ; and 
among the victims were five members of a Con- 
necticut troop, then stationed in the town. But 
a few weeks afterward, a second company of 
French and Indians surprised an English settle- 
ment on the Piscataqua, burned the houses, 
massacred most of the male inhabitants, and 
hurried off fifty-four prisoners, chiefly women 
and children. 

These and similar forays excited the alarm 
and indignation of the English colonies. Mas- 
sachusetts proposed a congress of colonial com- 
missioners, to meet at New York, and devise a 
scheme of retaliation. Accordingly, delegates 
from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, 
assembled at the proposed place of meeting, on 
the first of May, and determined to attempt the 
conquest of Canada, with a fleet and army, to 
sail from Boston against Quebec, and a land 
force of nine hundred men from Connecticut and 
New York, to march by the way of Lake Cham- 
plain upon Montreal. 



1690.] WINTHROP ARRESTED. 133 

But both expeditions proved unsuccessful. 
That against Montreal, with Fitz-John Winthrop 
of Connecticut at its head, advanced beyond 
Lake George; but Milborne, the son-in-law of 
the governor of New York, who had been ap- 
pointed commissary, failing to keep the army 
sufficiently supplied with provisions, a council 
of war declared it necessary to fall back upon 
Albany. For the retreat that followed, sick- 
ness and the want of canoes to transport the 
troops, afforded additional excuses. Being early 
infornied of it by his Indian scouts, the aged but 
active Frontenac was enabled to concentrate all 
his forces in Quebec, and thus to repel the com- 
bined military and naval expedition from Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Though "Winthrop, in retreating, had but acted 
upon the advice of his officers, Leisler, the go- 
vernor of New York, charged him with treachery, 
and caused him to be arrested. This assumption 
of authority the Connecticut assembly rebuked 
in sharp terms. But long before their remon- 
strance could reach Leisler, the universal indig- 
nation of the army had compelled him to release 
his prisoner. 

During the year following the unsuccessful 
attempt upon Canada, the colonies did little 
more than defend themselves from the war-parties 
of French and Indians, who continued to harass 
the frontiers. Though herself exempted from 

12 



134 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1692. 

the attacks of these marauding bands, Connecticut 
kept a considerable force in the field, chiefly to 
assist in protecting the western and north-eastern 
settlements of Massachusetts. 

It h?*d been with great reluctance that the 
Englir/n crown acknowledged the validity of the 
charter of Connecticut. William was still hope- 
ful and desirous of abridging, at least, the ample 
privileges and democratic liberties it guarantied. 
Appointing a new governor over New York, in 
the person of Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, a man 
of irascible temper, possessing much activity 
but little capacity to execute prudently, the king 
entrusted to him the accomplishment of an insi- 
dious design upon the liberties of Connecticut. 
Ostensibly to render easier the defence of New 
York, Fletcher was commissioned to command 
the militia of the New England colony. Per- 
ceiving at once, that to allow him to act under 
this commission would be virtually to surrender 
their chartered privileges, the legislature of Con- 
necticut took a firm stand in opposition. The 
question being referred to the freemen, it was 
resolved to appeal to the king against the au- 
thority delegated to the governor of New York. 
A petition was accordingly prepared, and placed 
in the hands of the faithful Winthrop, to be pre- 
sented by him to the throne. 

Fletcher was furious at the resistance ofi*ered 
him, and would not await the decision of the go- 



1693.] RAGE OF FLETCHER. 135 

vernment in England. On the 26th of October, 
1693, he appeared suddenly in Hartford. "I 
will not set my foot out of this colony," declared 
he, " till I have seen his majesty's commission 
obeyed." The assembly were at this time in 
session. Fletcher ordering the militia under 
arms, it was thought expedient to call the train- 
bands of Hartford together. Notwithstanding 
this apparent concession, the assembly declared 
that they would not surrender the command of 
the troops to any one save the officers in whom 
that ^ight was expressly vested by the charter. 

Finding the civil rulers inflexible in their de- 
termination, Fletcher proceeded with Bayard, 
one of his council, to the parade-ground, where 
he found the militia ^^raining" under the direc- 
tions of Captain Wadsworth, whose faithfulness 
to the liberties of the colony had already been 
exhibited. Preparing to take command, Fletcher 
ordered Bayard to read his commission. "Beat 
the drums !" exclaimed Wadsworth, as the coun- 
cillor commenced reading. Loud was the up- 
roar that ensued. Fletcher furiously commanded 
silence. He was obeyed ; and Bayard once more 
began to read. Again the drums were beat. 
^'Silence ! silence !" cried the irritated Fletcher. 
^'Drum, drum, I say !" shouted Wadsworth, in a 
determmed voice, adding, with startling em- 
phasis, as he turned toward the intrusive go- 
vernor, ^^f I am interrupted again, I will make 



136 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1697. 

the sun shine through you in a moment." Mark- 
ing the stern aspect of the speaker, and the 
excited countenances of the throng that was 
fast gathering around, Fletcher, awed into silence, 
prudently consulted his safety by a hasty return 
to New York. 

Meanwhile Winthrop was on his way to Eng- 
land. Safely arriving there, he presented the 
colony's petition to the king, who referred the 
whole matter to the solicitor and attorney-gene- 
ral for the crown. Their report sustaining Con- 
necticut, an order in accordance with it was 
passed in council. But, thus treating the ques- 
tion as a mere local quarrel between two colonial 
governments, no satisfaction was tendered to 
Connecticut for what was, undoubtedly, a royal 
attempt to encroach upon the rights and privi- 
leges of her charter. Still there was cause for 
the rejoicings with which the tidings of the deci- 
sion were received. 

Returning from his successful mission in 1696, 
Winthrop was greeted by the hearty welcomes 
of the colony. Thanking him publicly for his 
good services, the assembly voted him a more 
substantial gratuity of three hundred pounds, as 
a "further testimonial of the high sense they 
entertained of his merit, fidelity, and labours." 

In 1697, the war with Canada, which during 
all this time had been languishingly waged, was 
terminated by the peace of Ryswick. 



1698.] YALE COLLEGE FOUNDED. 137 



CHAPTER X. 

Fitz-John Winthrop governor — Yale College founded — Is re- 
moved to New Haven — Hartford and New Haven established 
as the colonial capitals — Charges against the colonies — Bill 
to abrogate their charters — Defence of Connecticut — With- 
drawal of the obnoxious bill — War between England, France 
and Spain — Attempt of Cornbury and Dudley to abridge the 
libertfes of Connecticut — Charges brought against the colony 
— Its vindication and triumph — Dudley renews his attacks 
upon the colony — Promotes the claims of the heirs of Major 
Mason— =-Long-continuance of the Mason controversy — Is 
finally decided in favour of the colony — Death of Winthrop 
— Saltonstall governor — Progress of the war — Invasion of 
Canada projected — Design abandoned — Successful expedi- 
tion against Acadia — Renewed attempt to conquer Canada — 
Its failure — Disappointment of the colonies — Peace — Condi- 
tion of Connecticut — Boundary dispute with Massachusetts 
settled. 

Electing Winthrop governor in 1698, Con- 
necticut enjoyed nearly three years of uninter- 
rupted tranquillity. It was during this period 
of peace that the foundation was laid of an 
educational structure, which the commonwealth 
of to-day may justly regard with pride and satis- 
faction. Finding it inconvenient to send their 
youth to Cambridge University for a collegiate 
education, several gentlemen of New Haven, 
Milford, and Branford, suggested the establish- 
ment of a college in Connecticut. In 1699, ten 

12* 



138 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1701. 

clergymen were appointed trustees of the pro- 
jected institution. Meeting at Branford during 
the following year, each of these trustees brougl;it 
with him several books, saying, as he laid them 
upon the table, " I give these books for the 
founding of a college in this colony." The 
library thus contributed numbered about forty 
folio volumes. Various other donations were 
soon afterward made, both of money and of 
books. In 1701 the college was incorporated 
by the assembly, which, at the same time, grant- 
ed sixty pounds toward its support. Holding its 
earlier sessions at Saybrook, the college was pre- 
sently removed to New Haven. Here, eighteen 
years after its foundation, the name of Yale was 
conferred upon it, in memory of a generous 
benefactor. 

In May, 1701, the assembly enacted that its 
sessions should be held alternately at Hartford 
and New Haven — an arrangement which has 
never since been changed. 

Meanwhile the crown had not despaired of 
depriving the colony of its charter, without a 
resort to manifest tyranny. Complaining that 
the chartered colonies afforded refuge to pirates 
and illegal traders, and that they interfered 
with English commerce, by depreciating the 
worth of coins, and by encouraging "woollen and 
other manufactures proper for England;" the 
British lords of trade, in April, 1701, introduced 



1702.] CHARTER IN DANGER. 139 

into Parliament a bill to abrogate the colonial 
charters, and place over the colonies "such a 
government as should make them duly subser- 
vient to England." 

The principal opposition which this measure 
met with came from Connecticut, against whose 
charter it was especially aimed. Leave being 
granted. Sir Henry Ashurst plead on behalf of 
the colony before the bar of the House of Lords. 
Glancing at the rights and privileges of the 
charter, Ashurst contended that the colonists 
had oDtained them as the reward of valuable 
services rendered, in enlarging the English do- 
minions and commerce, by purchasing, planting, 
subduing, and defending an extensive country. 
To take away this reward in order to punish its 
recipients for slight offences, by no means clearly 
proved against them, would be not only unjust 
to the colonists in their corporate capacity, but 
ruinous to their individual interests, inasmuch as 
the titles of their estates depended for secm-ity 
upon the charter. 

These arguments, together with others directed 
against the general features of the proposed 
measure, did much to induce its subsequent with- 
drawal ; but there is little probability that the 
result would have been so favourable, had not a 
press of other business demanded the serious 
attention of Parliament. A general European 
war was impending. In May, 1702, England 



140 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1702. 

and her allies declared hostilities against France 
and Spaii^. 

Again the colonies were involved in a fierce 
and desolating war with the French and Indians 
of Canada. Confined almost exclusively to the 
borders of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 
the horrors of this conflict were not immediately 
experienced by Connecticut. There was consi- 
derable alarm, however, in the frontier settle- 
ments, for the defence of which the assembly 
took prompt and vigorous steps. Money and 
troops were also contributed liberally for the 
protection of Massachusetts and New Hamp- 
shire. 

While the colony was thus exerting itself to 
meet the emergencies of the war, its enemies 
were not idle. Most active among these were 
Cornbury and Dudley, the governors of New 
York and Massachusetts, both of whom had pro- 
moted the lately foiled scheme against the colo- 
nial liberties. Moved, the one by the avarice 
of a profligate spendthrift, and the other by am- 
bition to rule over all New England, the two 
governors left no means untried to accomplish 
their several ends. Both exhibited commissions 
to command the militia ; Cornbury, of Con- 
necticut, and Dudley, of Khode Island ; but as 
it had already been decided that the crown had 
no right to grant such commissions, obedience 
was refused to them. Then, pretending to dread 



1702.] CHARGES AGAINST COLONY. 141 

a French invasion, Cornbury called upon the 
Connecticut assembly for money to repair the 
defences of New York. As it was known that 
he had squandered the sums appropriated for 
this purpose by the New York legislature, that 
of Connecticut sturdily refused to vote him the 
desked grant. Incensed at this refusal, he wrote 
home a long letter of complaint, in which he 
laboured to furnish the crown with some plausible 
pretext for wresting away the colonial charters. 
Connecticut and Khode Island were especially 
inveighed against. <'They hate everybody," 
said he, ^Hhat owes any subjection to the queen." 
In this attack he was joined by Dudley, who pro- 
cured the services of a venal writer to prepare 
a slanderous volume, entitled the " Doom, or 
.Miseries of Connecticut;" in which, in addition 
to many vile calumnies respecting the colony, a 
royal governor was recommended for New Eng- 
land. At this very time Dudley evinced his 
duplicity, by inditing a letter of thanks to the 
Connecticut assembly, for the promptness and 
abundance of the supplies they had furnished 
him; while, in the above-mentioned volume, their 
" remissness" on this point, was made an especial 
charge against the colony. 

Neither Cornbm^y nor Dudley was without in- 
fluence ; the latter having many distinguished 
friends at court, while the former was a cousin 
to the queen. Their labours were so far sue- 



142 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1705. 

cessful, tliat it was again proposed to place a 
royal governor over Connecticut. But the lords 
of trade would not condemn the colony unheard. 
Sir Henry Ashurst a second time exerted him- 
self nobly in its defence, and a complete vindica- 
tion was forwarded to England of all the charges 
that had been made against it. Connecticut tri- 
umphed. The proposed measure was abandoned. 

But the two governors were not intimidated 
by this second defeat. During the same year 
of their repulse, (1705,) they brought fresh 
charges against the colony. Incited by their 
representations, the Quakers of England com- 
plained of the law that had formerly been passed 
by Connecticut, against the practicers of the 
peculiar doctrines of the Society of Friends. 
This law, long obsolete, and, in fact, never en- 
forced, save against a fanatical offshoot of the 
Quaker sect, the queen in council declared null 
and void, as if it were a new enactment, without 
waiting for the excuse presently given by Con- 
necticut for delaying to repeal it. 

Though the colony was thus made to suffer 
considerable odium on account of what was called 
its Puritan intolerance, the promoters of the 
complaint against it were disappointed ; inasmuch 
as they had hoped that their exertions would 
result in the revocation of its charter. 

Meanwhile, Dudley had taken a strong inte- 
rest in an affair which he thought might be 



1706.] MASON CONTROVERSY. 143 

turned to his and Cornburj's advantage in their 
plans against Connecticut. Claiming to be the 
guardians of the Mohegan tribe, the grand- 
children of Major Mason, the hero of the Pequod 
war, instituted a suit against the colonial au- 
thorities, on behalf of the Indians, to recover 
certain lands which, as they alleged, the colony 
had undertaken to make grants of, without pos- 
sessing any thing more than a jurisdiction right. 
Falsely representing that Connecticut had acted 
very unjustly in this matter, Dudley procured 
the app'bintment of a royal commission, of which 
he was himself president, to examine into and 
decide the dispute. After an ex parte hearing 
of the case, the commissioners decided one point 
against the colony, ordering it to restore to 
Dwaneco, chief of the Mohegans, two several 
tracts of land, containing many thousand acres, 
and to pay a heavy bill of costs. The court then 
adjourned, to convene again in May, 1706. This 
meeting, however, never took place. Appealing 
at once against the decision of the commissioners, 
many of whom were shown to be interested 
parties, the assembly forwarded a full statement 
of the affair to the queen, who presently ap- 
pointed a council to revise the whole case. 
Though nearly seventy years elapsed before this 
dispute was finally settled in favour of the 
colony, the purpose for which Dudley promoted 
it was completely frustrated. 



144 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1708. 

Rumors reaching the colony that the French 
and Indians were preparing for a descent upon 
New England, a council of war convened at 
Hartford, in February, 1707. Danbury, "Wood- 
bury, Waterbury, and Simsbury, the then west- 
ernmost settlements, were ordered to be placed 
in a condition to repel attacks. In November 
of the same year, Governor Winthrop died, at 
an advanced age, lamented by the colonists as 
one endeared to them by his blameless life and 
valuable services in their behalf. Meeting in 
the following month, a special assembly chose 
the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall, of New London, to 
occupy the vacant gubernatorial chair. By a 
law of the colony, all candidates for the go- 
vernorship were required to be selected from 
among the members of the upper house of as- 
sembly. This law was now repealed ; and, in 
May, 1708, the votes of the freemen confirmed 
the election of Saltonstall, who continued to be 
annually rechosen during the next seventeen 
years. About this period, it would seem, the 
custom, long afterward prevalent in Connecticut, 
of preaching <' freemen's meeting sermons," ori- 
ginated in an order of the legislature that, " on 
the day appointed by law for choosing civil 
rulers," "the ministers of the gospel should 
preach to the freemen a sermon, proper for their 
direction in the work before them." 

Meanwhile, marauding bands of French and 



-1709.] INVASION OF ACADIA. 145 

Indians, marching with silent celerity from Ca- 
nada, continued to harass the frontiers of New 
England. To put an end to these incursions, an 
invasion of Canada was projected. Promised 
aid from England, the colonies bestirred them- 
selves actively; sanguinely expecting, in one 
campaign, to add to the British dominions all 
New France eastward of the great lakes. By 
extraordinary efforts, two considerable armies 
were assembled; one near the head of Lake 
Champlain, to march upon Montreal ; the other, 
at Boston, to act in conjunction with the ex- 
pected fleet against Acadia, Newfoundland, 
and Quebec. But unforeseen events withheld the 
promised aid from England; and the colonial 
troops, after spending the summer idly in camp, 
were mostly disbanded in the autumn of 1709. 
The expenses of this useless display of energy 
were exceedingly heavy. Wanting money to 
support her quota of the troops, Connecticut now 
issued her first bills of credit, to the amount of 
eight thousand pounds. Of the three hundred 
and fifty levies sent into the field by the colony, 
ninety fell victims to disease while in camp. 

An expedition, fitted out the following year 
against Acadia, was more fortunate. Thirty 
transports, bearing four New England regiments, 
supported by six British men of war, having on 
board five hundred marines, the whole under the 
command of Colonel Nicholson, set sail from 

13 



146 HISTORY OF CONXECTICUT. [1711. 

Boston In September, and soon after cast anchor 
before Port Koyal, of which a vigorous siege was 
immediately commenced. The conquest of this 
fortress, one of the strongest in North America, 
proved a work of no great diflficulty. On the 
16th of October, the French garrison, numbering 
one hundred and fifty-six ragged and half-fa- 
mished men, surrendered as prisoners of war. 
Leaving four hundred soldiers in the captured 
fortress, which was now named Annapolis, 
Nicholson returned in triumph to Massachusetts 
with the remaining troops. 

Animated by this easy acquisition of Acadia, 
the northern colonies again took up the favourite 
project of conquering Canada. Little expecting 
to obtain what they asked for, they despatched 
Nicholson to England to solicit the assistance 
of government. Returning in June, 1711, he 
gave notice that an English fleet of fifteen ships 
of war, and forty transports, having on board 
five veteran regiments, was already on its way to 
Boston. Sudden and scarcely hoped for, the 
arrival of the fleet a few days afterward found 
the colonists unprepared for immediate co-opera- 
tion. But, exerting themselves with remarkable 
promptitude and energy, the northern provinces, 
in little more than a month, collected provisions 
for the support of the troops, and levied two 
considerable armies ; one of which, about three 
thousand strong, embarked on the 30th of July, 



1712.] EXPEDITION AGAINST CANADA. 147 

along with the British regiments, in the fleet of 
Admiral Walker, against the fortress of Quebec. 
The other, composed of some fifteen hundred men 
from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, 
assembled at Albany, under the command of 
Nicholson, preparatory to an attack upon Mon- 
treal. But they never marched. 

After losing nearly a thousand men by ship- 
wreck, the result of his own inefficiency and 
obstinate resistance to the advice of the provin- 
cial pilots, Walker abandoned the attempt against 
Quebec, and returned ingloriously to England. 
Of coWse, the troops under Nicholson were now 
disbanded. 

In addition to the disappointment and heavy 
pecuniary losses attending this failure, the colo- 
nies were forced to bear the unjust accusation 
of having occasioned it, by their delay in co-ope- 
rating with the British fleet and army. Such, 
at least, was the excuse offered by Walker and 
his officers for their shameful retreat. In Eng- 
land, however, a tolerably fair view was taken 
of the matter, and public indignation ran high 
against the conduct of the admiral; while the 
Americans, with some plausibility, denounced the 
whole enterprise as a tory scheme, intended to 
fail, and devised solely to impoverish and disgrace 
the colonies. 

During the year following this futile attempt 
against Canada, negotiations were entered into, 



148 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1714. 

wMch, in 1713, resulted in the peace of Utrecht. 
This, though stigmatized by the Whigs of Eng- 
land as sacrificing the fruits of many triumphs, 
was yet regarded by the Anglo-American colo- 
nies as one highly advantageous to them, and not 
to be passed over without rejoicing. 

Connecticut, alone, of the northern provinces, 
had escaped the attacks of the enemy. For the 
last four years, however, the contest had been 
somewhat expensive to the colony ; bills of credit 
to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars having been issued during that period. 
The population of the commonwealth at the 
close of the war was about seventeen thousand, 
distributed through four counties and forty-five 
towns. Its manufactures were yet inconsiderable. 
There being but one fuller in the colony, most 
of the home-made clothing was worn without 
shearing or pressing. So far there had been no 
permanent printer in the province. In 1714, 
however, Mr. Timothy Green, a descendant of 
the first printer in Massachusetts, came to New 
London, and there set up an establishment, 
which, having the government patronage, con- 
tinued to flourish for many years. 

During the same year which gave quiet to the 
colonies, a long-continued dispute as to the 
boundary between Connecticut and Massachu- 
setts was amicably adjusted. The line run in 
1642, had been the cause of considerable ill- 



1714.] BOUNDARY SETTLED. 149 

feeling. It was now laid out anew, pretty 
much as at present ; excepting that the towns 
of Woodstock, Suffield, and Enfield, having 
been settled by emigrants from both provinces, 
under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, were 
allowed to continue a part of that colony. Con- 
necticut, however, undoubtedly losing territory 
by this arrangement, was compensated by the 
grant of one hundred and seven thousand seven 
hundred and ninety-three acres of wild land in 
Massachusetts, the proceeds of the sale of which 
were soon afterward applied to the support of 
Yale College. 



13* 



150 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1715. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Decline in morals — Consequent action of the assembly — Re- 
newed attempts to abridge the charters of New England — 
Liberality of Governor Saltonstall — Proposed union of Con- 
necticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, into one royal 
province — Spirited refusal of the colonists — Talcott and 
Law governors — Political quiet — Religious controversies — 
War between England and France — New England colonies 
resolve upon the conquest of Louisburg — Expedition pre- 
pared — Departs — Arrives before Louisburg — Troops eifect a 
landing — Royal battery taken — Labours of the siege — 
French reinforcements captured — Colonists repulsed in an 
assault on the island battery — Preparations to storm the 
city — Louisburg capitulates — Rejoicings of the colonists — 
French plan an invasion of New England — Colonies pre- 
pare to conquer Canada — Project abandoned — Alarm caused 
by a French squadron — Peace. 

The close of Queen Anne's war found Connec- 
ticut disturbed by a decline in that condition of 
moral order which, to this period at least, had 
given the colony no little cause for pardonable 
pride. Taking cognizance of the fact " that the 
glory had departed from them," and "that the 
providences of God were plainly telling them 
that their ways did not please him," the assem- 
bly, in May, 1714, proposed certain questions to 
the ministers of the several churches of the 
province. In October, 1715, the pastors report- 
ed, " That there was a great want of Bibles j 



1720.] THE CHARTER THREATENED 151 

that the Sahbath was frequently neglected ; and 
that there was a great deficiency in family go- 
vernment." Besides, they complained of ''tale- 
bearing and defamation;" of intemperance, and 
of " calumniating and contempt of authority and 
order, both civil and ecclesiastical." As there 
were already law^ to regulate these matters, the 
assembly could but direct the attention of the 
town officers to them, with injunctions to enforce 
them^more faithfully in future. 

Considerable alarm was excited at this period 
by the introduction into Parliament of a new 
bill for the better regulation of the chartered 
governments. Opposed earnestly by Dummer, 
the provincial agent in London, the projected 
measure was presently dropped. 

Nearly five years later, in 1720, the same bill 
again made its appearance in Parliament. To 
defeat it, Dummer was directed to spare neither 
pains nor expense ; Saltonstall, the patriotic old 
governor of the colony, generously transferring 
his extensive pecuniary credit in England to the 
agent's use. A second time the faithful Dum- 
mer contended for the existing liberties of the 
colony. His elaborate and cogently argumenta- 
tive "Defence of the New England charters" 
was successful. Again the obnoxious bill was 
withdrawn by its friends. 

Thus balked in their bolder attempts to de- 
prive Connecticut of its chartered privileges, the 



152 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1741. 

enemies of the colony soon afterward devised a 
scheme to induce it to surrender them of its own 
accord. It was proposed that Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, and New Hampshire should be 
united in one province, with a governor deriving 
his appointment from the crown. But this pro- 
position the two first-named colonies rejected 
with the strongest expressions of disapprobation ; 
declaring that, should they ever part with even 
one of their liberties, it would only be when that 
liberty was "wrested from them." 

Governor Saltonstall dying in 1724, Major 
Joseph Talcott was chosen to fill the executive 
chair of the commonwealth — a station he con- 
tinued to occupy for the next seventeen years, 
being succeeded in 1741 by Jonathan Laiv. 

The period thus summarily passed over, was 
one of political quiet and continued prosperity. 
Eras of this character are productive of but 
few important events w^hich can properly be 
admitted into a succinct account of the progress 
of a state. Material for many chapters might 
easily be gathered from the ecclesiastical his- 
tory of Connecticut, during the concluding thirty 
years of the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. Though the semi-theocratic form of the 
colonial government seems to require it, the 
limits of this volume will not afibrd space for a 
clear and faithful recital of the religious contro- 
versies which, for thirty years, agitated more 



1744.] WARLIKE MOVEMENTS. 153 

or less the entire province. The virulence of 
this polemical warfare was greatly increased by 
the intolerant action of the members of the 
general assembly, who, in the narrow spirit 
of bigoted sectaries, enacted various laws, under 
the operation of which severe punishments were 
inflicted upon all those who refused to conform 
to the established religion of the colony. 

Hoslvilities had already raged for several years 
between Great Britain and Spain, when, in May, 
1744, the colonies received the first intimation 
that France had entered into the contest, through 
the capture of Fort Canso, in Nova Scotia, by 
a French expedition from the Island of Cape 
Breton. An attack upon Annapolis followed, 
and was with difficulty repelled ; while numerous 
privateers threatened the fisheries and commerce 
of New England with destruction. 

Determined to put a stop to these ofi'ensive 
operations of the enemy, the now fully aroused 
colonists debated among themselves what mea- 
sures it would be best to adopt. To Louisburg, 
on the Island of Cape Breton, the attention of 
the more thoughtful was early directed. Here 
it was the French privateers found a commodious 
and safe harbour, sheltered by a fortress, which, 
from its great size and strength, had been termed 
the Dunkirk of America. Five millions and a 
half of dollars and twenty-five years of labour 
had been expended in its erection. While this 



154 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1744. 

remained in tlie hands of the enemy, New Eng- 
land could not reasonably hope for security. 
The design of attempting its reduction, hesita- 
tingly entertained at first, seemed wholly practi- 
cable to Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, 
when certain English captives, returning home 
on parole from Louisburg, reported the garrison 
to be weak, and the works out of repair. 

Writing to England for naval assistance, 
Shirley broached his project to the Massachu- 
setts assembly, which, by a majority of one vote, 
resolved to engage in the bold undertaking. 
Aid being solicited from the other colonies, 
Pennsylvania sent provisions. New Jersey money, 
and New York ten pieces of artillery. The 
troops — all volunteers — were New England men ; 
from Massachusetts three thousand ; from Con- 
necticut five hundred ; and from New Hampshire 
three hundred. To lead this untrained but en- 
thusiastic army of farmers, fishermen, and me- 
chanics, Shirley selected William Pepperell, a 
merchant of Maine. Second in command, and 
heading the troops of Connecticut, was Roger 
Wolcott, who, from the condition of an unedu- 
cated apprentice boy, had already elevated him- 
self by the force of natural talents and perseve- 
ring energy, to the lieutenant-governorship of 
his native province. 

Unsustained by any hope of assistance from 
England, Shirley determined to try the colonial 



1745.] SIEGE OF LOUISBURG. 155 

troops alone. On the 24th of March, 1745, the 
Massachusetts armament set sail for Canso. Ar- 
riving there the 4th of April following, they 
found the New Hampshire men already as- 
sembled, and were presently joined by the Con- 
necticut division. Sailing from Canso, in a hun- 
dred New England vessels, accompanied by a 
British squadron, which had opportunely and 
unexpectedly joined the expedition, the adven- 
turous colonists entered Labarus Bay, in full view 
of the citadels of Louisburg, early on the morn- 
ing of the 30th of April. 

In high spirits, and sanguine of success, the 
troops pushed boldly for the shore, putting to 
flight the force sent to oppose their landing. 
That night, Vaughan, a brave New Hampshire 
man, leading a few companies, marched by the 
city to the north-east harbour, and, setting fire 
to a number of warehouses adjacent to the royal 
battery, struck a panic in its garrison, who, 
having spiked their guns, fled within the. walls 
of the city. The next morning Vaughan took 
possession of the abandoned works ; from which 
a heavy fire was presently opened against the 
town, and upon the island battery fronting the 
main harbour. 

Laughing at the technicalities of military en- 
gineering, the hardy colonists pressed the siege 
vigorously. Little science was displayed in their 
approaches, but they made them with a hearty 



156 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1745. 

good-will and untiring enthusiasm, that betoken- 
ed tlieir ultimate triumph. The erection of bat- 
teries was the most fatiguing of their labours ; 
every one of the cannon having to be carried a 
distance of more than two miles from the landing- 
place, over morasses impassable for wheels, and 
in which the men sunk to their knees in mud. 
To add to the hardship of this duty, which em- 
ployed the soldiers for two weeks, it could only 
be performed at night, inasmuch as the whole 
route lay open to the cannon of the besieged. 

Meanwhile the squadron, cruising off the har- 
bour, encountered and captured the Vigilant, a 
French man-of-war, having on board a large re- 
inforcement, and numerous supplies for the be- 
leaguered fortress. Already several attempts 
had failed to take the island battery, which com- 
manded the entrance of the harbour. Soon after 
the capture of the Vigilant, a more vigorous as- 
sault of this work was planned. In boats, under 
cover of the night of May the 26th, the adven- 
turous assailants endeavoured to force a landing. 
After an hour's hard fighting, they were repulsed, 
with the loss of sixty killed, and one hundred 
and sixteen taken captive. 

This untoward affair resulted, however, in 
some slight advantage. The English prisoners, 
as if animated by one spirit, when separately 
questioned as to the number of the besiegers, in- 
dulged in exaggerations of the real force, which 



1745.] SIEGE OF LOUISBURG. 157 

the dispersed state of the troops seemed to con- 
firm. Greatly distm-bed by their accounts, the 
French commander was still more disheartened 
by the intelligence of the loss of the Vigilant, a 
circumstance of which, up to this time, he had 
remained entirely ignorant. 

Meanwhile, the colonists, under the direction 
of Gridley, of Massachusetts, had laboriously 
erected a battery on the cliffs opposite the town, 
by means of which they annoyed greatly the 
fortifications on the island. Another battery, 
thrown up within two hundred yards of the city, 
now thundered against the north-west gate. 
Active preparations were at the same time being 
made to carry the town by assault, in the midst 
of a bombardment which the men-of-war were to 
open upon it, having first forced their way into 
the harbour. 

Every thing thus far had favoured the besieg- 
ers. The weather had been unusually dry for 
the climate ; and, in consequence, the troops 
were much freer from disease than the most san- 
guine had expected they would be. Besides, the 
French garrison, all along comparatively feeble, 
was now mutinous; so generally so, that the 
officers would not venture a sally, for fear the 
men should desert. This fact, and the visible 
preparations of the English to storm the town, 
induced Duchambon, the French governor, to 
send out a flag of truce. On the 17th of June, 

14 



158 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1746. 

forty-nine days after the commencement of the 
siege, terms of capitulation "were agreed to, and 
the city, the fort, and batteries were surrendered 
together with nineteen hundred troops, one-third 
of which were regulars, and an immense quantity 
of valuable stores. 

By this unlooked-for capitulation the colonists 
were saved the necessity of an assault. And 
they were thankful for it. The most coura- 
geous of them were appalled when they be- 
held the scarcely impaired strength and formi- 
dable massiveness of the fortifications. Nothing 
could have prevented the defeat of a storming 
party. 

The capture of Louisburg, shedding a redeem- 
ing lustre over one of the most unfortunate wars 
ever participated in by Great Britain, excited 
throughout the American colonies a feeling of 
unbounded joy. Flushed with their triumph, 
they speedily revived the favourite, but hitherto 
unlucky project of an invasion of Canada. On 
the other hand, France felt painfully the blow 
inflicted upon her North American power ; and, 
preparing to retaliate, planned for the ensuing 
campaign, not only the reconquest of Cape 
Breton and Nova Scotia, but also the complete 
subjugation of New England. 

Complying partly with a request from Shirley, 
the British ministry, early in 1T46, forwarded 
to the American governors a plan for the con- 



1746.] PROJECTED INVASION. 159 

quest of Canada. A fleet and army from Eng- 
land were to be joined at Louisburg by four 
thousand levies from Massachusetts, Khode 
Island, and New Hampshire, and thence proceed 
by the St. Lawrence against Quebec ; while the 
troops of Connecticut, New York, and the more 
southern colonies, assembling at Albany, were 
to cross Lake Champlain and invest Montreal. 

With more than their usual alacrity executing 
the duties assigned them by the crown, the co- 
lonies speedily raised their respective quotas of 
troops. Connecticut alone brought a thousand 
men into the field. Eut neither general, fleet, 
army, nor orders arrived from England. As 
the season for active employment was fast wear- 
ing away, it was proposed by Shirley and Pep- 
perell to advance a body of colonists against Crown 
Point. While this design was being matured, a 
large force of Indians and Canadians threatened 
an attack upon Annapolis. Preparations were 
scarcely begun to embark troops for the defence 
of the imperilled point, when intelligence was 
received that threw all New England into a state 
of intense alarm. A French squadron, number- 
ing fifty ships-of-war, having on board three 
thousand veteran troops, was crossing the At- 
lantic to reconquer Cape Breton and Nova Scotia, 
and invade the eastern colonies. 

Abandoning their design upon Canada, the 
colonists prepared to repel this powerful arma- 



160 HISTORY OP CONNECTICUT. [1647. 

ment. Forts were strengthened, the militia 
called out, and troops stationed at every avail- 
able point. But, after suffering from the 
liveliest apprehensions for nearly two months, 
their alarm was turned to rejoicing. Encoun- 
tering disaster after disaster, the shattered fleet 
of the enemy, having lost its two chief officers, 
one by sickness and the other by suicide, — 
was finally dispersed by a storm. Such of the 
vessels as escaped shipwreck, returned singly 
to France. From this period the war was con- 
ducted with little spirit by either of the bellige- 
rent powers. In 1647 negotiations were entered 
into which, during the following year, resulted 
in the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 



1756.] PROSPECT OF THE STATE. 161 



CHAPTER XIL 

Prosperity of Connecticut — Towns of Enfield, Woodstock, 
Somers, and Duffield received under the jurisdiction of Con- 
necticut — Governors Wolcott and Fitch — Difficulties between 
England and France — Hostilities commenced — Plan of co- 
lonial union proposed — Rejected by the colonies and the 
Lords of Trade — Campaign of 1755 — Israel Putnam— Sketch 
of his life — His character — His adventure with the wolf — 
Victory of Lake George — Honour of it claimed for Lyman 
of Connecticut — Defeat of Braddock — Failure of Shirley — 
Campaign of 1756 — Loudoun appointed commander-in-chief 
— Oswego captured by the French — Shameful close of the 
campaign — Campaign of 1756 — Expedition set on foot 
against Louisburg — Loudoun's inactivity at Halifax — Re- 
turns to New York — Montcalm descends upon Fort WilHam 
Henry — Putnam informs Webb, at Fort Edward, of Mont- 
calm's approach — Vacillating conduct of Webb — Surrender 
of Munro — Massacre of the English prisoners attempted — 
Heroism of Montcalm — Alarm of the colonies — Promptness 
of Connecticut — Fort Edward saved by the daring energy 
of Putnam. 

For several years subsequent to the treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, the history of Connecticut was 
unmarked by little, save the prosperity that 
usually attends peace. 

Claiming to be within the chartered limits of 
Connecticut, the towns of Enfield, AVoodstock, 
Somers, and Sufi&eld, disregarding the boundary 
arrangement of 1713, by which their jurisdic- 
tion had been ceded to Massachusetts, applied 

14* 



162 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1754, 

for, and, in 1750, obtained the consent of the 
former colony to live under its laws, and to be a 
part of its territory. Massachusetts deemed 
this act an unjust one, and threatened an appeal 
to the crown. But this threat was never put in 
execution. 

Dying in 1751, Governor Law was succeeded 
by Roger Walcott. Suspected, groundlessly it 
would now appear, of having connived at the de- 
frauding of a Spanish trader, Wolcott was not 
long retained in office. In the election of 1754 
he received scarcely a vote. His successor was 
Thomas Fitch, a man of no great ability, but 
who, for the twelve following years, was annually 
re-elected to the highest office in the colony. 

Meanwhile serious difficulties had arisen be- 
tween the governments of England and France. 
Eager for empire in the New World, both coun- 
tries hastened to enlarge as much as possible 
their respective North American possessions. 
Mutual ''encroachments," as they were called 
by the contending nations, led to collisions of a 
sanguinary character. By the summer of 1754 
war had virtually begun, though two years 
elapsed before hostilities were formally pro- 
claimed. 

In view of the approaching conflict, the Bri- 
tish Lords of Trade had already proposed a union 
of the Anglo-American colonies. Accordingly, 
commissioners from the several assemblies con- 



1755.] PLAN OF UNION. 163 

vened at Albany, in June, 1754. Benjamin 
Franklin's celebrated scheme of colonial con- 
federation was presently introduced into the 
convention, and -after some debate, adopted 
almost unanimously. Only the cautious repre- 
sentatives of Connecticut opposed it, chiefly on 
account of the negative power allowed the go- 
vernor-general, whom it was proposed the crown 
should appoint, over the acts of the contemplated 
grand council of delegates from the several pro- 
vincial assemblies. 

Declaring that it "would tend to subvert the 
liberties and privileges" of the colonists, the 
people of Connecticut were intensely alarmed by 
the proposed plan of confederation. But their 
apprehensions were soon quieted. Rejected by 
every one of the colonial assemblies, Franklin's 
scheme was wholly disapproved of by the govern- 
ment in England. No better was the fate of 
that subsequently brought forward by the Lords 
of Trade. Particularly odious, as suggesting 
parliamentary taxation of the colonies, the as- 
semblies scarcely deigned to notice it. 

War being unavoidable. General Braddock, 
with two regiments of regulai'fe, was despatched 
from England to take command of the army in 
North America. Meeting a congress of colonial 
governors in April, 1755, Braddock concerted 
with them three separate but simultaneous expe- 
ditions against Forts Duquesne, Niagara, and 



164 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1755. 

Crown Point. In the latter of tliese, which was 
led by Johnson of New York, Connecticut bore 
an important part. One of her most popular 
citizens — Major- General Phineas Lyman — was 
second in command ; and among the officers who 
headed her thousand accompanying levies, none 
were more efficient than Colonel Whiting and 
Israel Putnam, then an inexperienced captain 
of rangers. With regard to the character and 
previous life of the latter, some few words seem 
necessary. 

Born at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1718, Put- 
nam emigrated, when quite a young man, to 
Pomfret, in Connecticut. Here he had lived a 
farmer's quiet life for nearly sixteen years. By 
no means unlettered, but with few educational 
advantages, he already possessed a reputation 
for native sagacity and daring courage. The 
following anecdote may serve to illustrate the 
latter trait in his character. 

A she-wolf, which had long been a scourge to 
the neighbouring farmers, was finally tracked in 
the snow to a cave near Putnam's house. From 
this stronghold, a winter's day was spent in vain 
effi)rts to drive her. Night coming on, Putnam 
grew impatient. Doffing his coat and vest, he 
avowed his determination to drag the wolf by 
the ears from her den. Carrying a torch of 
birch bark, and with a stout rope tied to his 
legs, he crawled on his hands and knees through 



1755.] ISRAEL PUTNAM. 165 

the narrow avenue leading to where the furious 
animal crouched, growling and gnashing her 
teeth in mingled rage and terror. After a hasty 
reconnoissance, Putnam gave the signal to be 
drawn out. Alarmed for his safety, his friends 
performed this duty with undue alacrity, tearing 
his clothes to tatters, and sorely bruising and 
lacerating his body and limbs. Armed with an 
old musket, Putnam a second time groped his 
hazardous way into the cavern. All before him 
was darkness, in the midst of which gleamed the 
fiery eyes of the wolf. Deliberately aiming be- 
tween the glittering orbs, he fired. Stunned by 
the report, and nearly suffocated with smoke, 
Putnam was again dragged hurriedly out. After 
a few moments he re-entered the cave. The 
wolf was stone dead. Seizing her by the ears, 
he clung to them while his friends, with applaud- 
ing cheers and shouts of exultation, hauled him 
and his shaggy prize into the open air. 

The troops destined against Crown Point, 
advancing under Lyman to the portage between 
the Hudson and Lake George, built there Fort 
Lyman, called afterward Fort Edward. Johnson 
presently came up, took command, and marched, 
with three thousand four hundred men, to the 
southern shore of Lake George, where he formed 
an intrenched camp. His front was protected 
by a breastwork of felled trees ; in his rear was 



166 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1755. 

the lake ; and both flanks were guarded by im- 
passable swamps. 

In the mean time the Baron Dieskau was ad- 
vancing from Crown Point, at the head of two 
thousand Indians, Canadians, and French regu- 
lars, to besiege the recently constructed Fort 
Edward. 

Informed of Dieskau's movement, Johnson 
detached from his camp a thousand provincials 
and Indians, under Colonel Williams, to relieve 
the threatened fortress. The French general 
had altered his plans, however, and was now 
marching directly upon the English camp ; about 
three miles from which, in a narrow, rugged 
defile, he encountered Williams. Surprised and 
outnumbered, the provincials were thrown into 
momentary confusion; Williams falling, the com- 
mand devolved upon Whiting, who, rallying the 
broken troops, they slowly retreated, fighting 
gallantly, to the camp. 

Pressing the fugitives, Dieskau assaulted the 
centre of Johnson's line. An unexpected dis- 
charge from the English artillery drove his 
Indian and Canadian auxiliaries to the woods. 
With his regulars alone, the brave Frenchman 
endeavoured to surmount the breastwork ; but, 
after five hours of daring efi'ort, his forces were 
driven back in disastrous defeat, and such as 
were able fled precipitately to Crown Point. 



1755.] VICTORY OF LAKE GEORGE. 167 

Mortally wounded, Dieskau fell a prisoner into 
the hands of the victorious provincials. 

Johnson having heen slightly wounded during 
the early part of the action, the chief command 
had devolved upon Lyman. The honours of the 
victory, therefore, it was contended by the Con- 
necticut troops, rightly belonged to their favour- 
ite. But, save by the praises and esteem of the 
New England people, his gallantry remained un- 
rewarded, while Johnson was knighted by the 
crown, and received from Parliament a grant of 
five thousand pounds. 

The triumph of Lake George was not followed 
up. Johnson alleged that he was unable to do 
so for the want of provisions and means of 
transportation. Dm^ing the fall, while, twenty 
miles in advance of Crown Point, the French 
erected works at Ticonderoga, he lingered on 
Lake George, superintending the construction 
of Fort William Henry. On the approach of 
winter, this was garrisoned by six hundred of the 
provincials. The rest were allowed to return to 
their homes. 

The partial success of the Crown Point expe- 
dition poorly compensated for the sanguinary 
and disastrous defeat of that against Duquesne, 
under the command of the ill-fated Braddock, 
or for the failure of the one, headed by Shirley 
of Massachusetts, against Niagara. 
. Succeeding Braddock as commander-in-chief, 



168 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1757. 

Shirley was about to open the campaign of 1756, 
when he was superseded by Lord Loudoun, one 
of the most inefficient officers the crown could 
have placed at the head of the colonial forces. 
Arriving late in the season, Loudoun determined 
to lead the main army against Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point, while General Webb marched 
with a thousand regulars to reinforce the garrison 
of Oswego, an important fortress erected, the 
previous year, on the southern shore of Lake 
Ontario. Some time elapsed before the two di- 
visions commenced their march. Loudoun still 
lingered at Albany, when Webb hastily returned 
with the alarming intelligence that Oswego had 
fallen. At once shamefully closing the campaign, 
the commander-in-chief recalled the troops ad- 
vancing toward Ticonderoga, garrisoned Forts 
Edward and William Henry, and dismissed the 
greater part of the provincials. 

Extensive preparations were made for a vigor- 
ous campaign in 1757. By the generous efforts 
of the colonies, in which Connecticut fully shared, 
Loudoun was enabled to take the field in the 
spring with a numerous and effective force. But, 
with his characteristic procrastination, he made 
no movement of consequence until midsummer ; 
and then only against Louisburg, which, greatly 
to the indignation of the colonists, had been re- 
stored to the French by the treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle. 



1757.] FORT WILLIAM HENRY INVESTED. 169 

Garrisoning Forts Edward and AYilliam Henry 
with most of the newly-raised provincials, Lou- 
doun sailed to Halifax at the head of six thou- 
sand regulars. There he was joined by a British 
fleet, and six thousand additional troops. Instead 
of at once investing Louisburg, the dilatory chief 
lingered at Halifax so long that a large French 
fleet anchored before the fortress it was pro- 
posed to attack. An assault was now out of the 
question. Re-embarking his troops, Loudoun 
returned to New York, and thus ended the ofi'en- 
sive operations of the year. 

Meantime, Montcalm, the active and enter- 
prising commander of the French, had filled the 
northern colonies with alarm. Availing him- 
self of Loudoun's useless withdrawal of so many 
men, he collected eight thousand regulars, Cana- 
dians and Indians, and hastened down Lake 
George to attack Fort William Henry. This 
was a structure of no great strength, but of con- 
siderable importance, situated on a gentle emi- 
nence near the south-western extremity of the 
lake, and garrisoned by about three thousand 
men, under Colonel Monroe. General "Webb, 
with four thousand troops, was at Fort Edward, 
some fifteen miles distant. 

Through Putnam, now a major in one of the 
Connecticut regiments, who, narrowly escaping 
capture, had performed the dangerous duty of 
reconnoitering the enemy's position at Ticon- 

15 



170 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [175T. 

deroga, Webb received timely information of 
Montcalm's advance, but he neither followed the 
advice of Putnam to assail the French as they 
landed, nor sent a sufi&cient reinforcement to 
Fort William Henry. Twenty-four hours after- 
ward, on the 3d of August, the fortress was 
invested. 

Monroe immediately despatched messengers 
to Fort Edward for relief. Webb reluctantly 
allowed a call for volunteers. This opportunity 
the provincials eagerly embraced ; none more so 
than Putnam and his rangers. But scarcely 
had they begun their march, when Webb recalled 
them, and sent a letter to Monroe advising him 
to surrender. Montcalm himself afterward as- 
sured Putnam that, when informed of this move- 
ment of the provincials by his Indian scouts, he 
had made every preparation for hastily raising 
the siege. 

Having for six days bravely maintained his 
post, Monroe was forced to capitulate. The 
terms were favourable. Promising not to serve 
against the French for eighteen months, the gar- 
rison were to be allowed to depart with the 
honours of war to Fort Edward, under a strong 
escort of Montcalm's troops. Dissatisfied with 
these terms, the French general's barbarian allies 
fell upon the disarmed and retreating English. 
Twenty were at once tomahawked. The re- 
mainder fled in dismay to the woods, to Fort 



1757.] DARING OF PUTNAM. 171 

Edward, and to tlie French camp. Aided by 
his officers, Montcahn exerted himself daringly 
to stay the work of destruction. Rushing into 
the midst of the infuriated savages, he begged 
them to slay him rather than the English, who 
were under his protection. His efforts were not 
without success. Very few of the English were 
killed beyond those who fell in the first on- 
slaught. 

The news of this event caused an intense 
alarm. For the first time Webb called on the 
colonies for their assistance. The call was an- 
swered promptly. Connecticut alone, in a few 
days, had five thousand men on the march. But 
this activity was of no avail. Having dismantled 
the captured fortress, Montcalm was already on 
his return to Canada. 

During the winter following this disastrous 
close of the campaign of 1757, an event took 
place at Fort Edward, which exhibited in a 
strong light the cool and indomitable daring of 
Putnam, who was then stationed in the neigh- 
bourhood. Within twelve feet of the magazine, 
containing three hundred barrels of powder, 
stood a barrack, which by some accident caught 
fire. Putnam reached the fort while the flames 
were spreading fiercely toward the magazine, 
and took his post on the roof of the burning 
building, so near to the flames, that, while he 
laboured to quench them, his mittens were burned 



172 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1757. 

from his hands. Supplied with another pair 
soaked in water, he kept his post. Urged to 
descend, he replied that a suspension of his 
efforts would be fatal. Incited bj his intrepi- 
dity, the commanding officer of the station, ex- 
claiming that if they must perish all should be 
blown up together, ordered that nothing more 
should be removed from the fort. As the bar- 
racks began to totter, Putnam descended, and 
took a station between them and the magazine, 
the external planks of which were already con- 
sumed. Having contended with the flames for 
an hour and a half, Putnam had the satisfaction 
of finding his efforts successful. The fort was 
saved, and through him alone. The earnest 
thanks thus won from his commander had not 
been obtained cheaply. Weeks elapsed before 
he recovered from the exposure he had under- 
gone. His face, arms, and almost his entire 
body were blistered. In removing his mittens, 
the skin of his hands came off with them. 



1758.] CAMPAIGN OF 1758. 173 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Campaign of 1758 — Energetic course of Pitt — Popularity of 
his measures — Louisburg captured — Abercrombie advances 
against Ticonderoga — Lord Howe killed — Abercrombie de- 
feated — Frontenac surprised by Bradslreet — Fort Duquesne 
abandoned by the French — Perilous adventure of Putnam — 
He is captured by the Indians — Is saved from torture and 
death by Molang — Molang sends him a prisoner 'to Mont- 
calm — Colonel Schuyler procures his exchange — Campaign 
of 1759 — Niagara surrendered to the English — Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point abandoned by the French — Amherst takes 
possession of the deserted posts — Quebec taken by Wolfe — 
Campaign of 1760 — Three English armies advance upon 
Montreal — Putnam at the capture of Fort Oswegatchie — 
His important services in that affair — Montreal surrenders 
— Final conquest of Canada — Benedict Arnold — His cha- 
racter — Anecdotes of him — Enlists in the army, and is sta- 
tioned at Ticonderoga — His desertion. 

After three expensive campaigns, the Eng- 
lish had not advanced a single step. Rather, 
France had signally triumphed. Mortification 
and alarm filling the colonies extended to the 
mother country, 'VYhere a feeble ministry was at 
length overthrown, and a new one, headed by 
William Pitt, afterward Earl of Chatham, came 
into power. By this distinguished man, whose 
unaided energy and eloquence had elevated him 
to the position he now occupied, the most vigor- 
ous measures were immediately adopted. 

15* 



174 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1758. 

Meeting on the 8th of March, 1758, the Con- 
necticut assembly took into consideration a cir- 
cular letter from Pitt, who had sent similar 
circulars to the other provinces. Appealing to 
the courage and patriotism of the colonists, he 
invited them, in terms unusually respectful, to 
co-operate in his plans for the coming campaign. 
For any expenses they might incur he promised 
compensation ; and agreed to furnish their levies 
with arms, ammunition, tents and provisions. 
Effectually removing one cause of colonial dis- 
satisfaction, he obtained the king's order that 
every provincial officer, of no higher rank than 
colonel, should have equal command with those 
of the regular service. 

His requisition was complied with cheerfully 
and with alacrity. Connecticut alone summoned 
five thousand men into the field. Early in May, 
Abercrombie, the successor of Loudoun, found 
himself at the head of fifty thousand troops, of 
which nearly one-half were regulars. With these, 
Louisburg, Ticonderoga, and Fort Duquesne, 
were to be simultaneously attacked. In the ex- 
pedition, led by Abercrombie in person, against 
Ticonderoga, Connecticut participated largely. 

The first blow fell on Louisburg ; which, with 
its numerous dependencies, was surrendered in 
July to the combined naval and military forces^ 
under Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst. 

Meanwhile, at the head of a brilliant array of 



1758.] DEATH OP HOWE. 175 

fifteen thousand regulars and provincials, Aber- 
crombie crossed Lake George. Landing near 
the outlet of the lake, he sent forward Lord 
Howe, with the van of the army, to make a cir- 
cuitous march toward Ticonderoga. Led by 
bewildered guides, Howe's division, while wan- 
dering through the tangled wilderness, encoun- 
tered a portion of the enemy's advanced guard. 
A sharp conflict ensued, in which the victorious 
English lost the life and soul of their enterprise 
— the brave, gallant, and widely-esteemed Lord 
Howe. 

After some delay, the army fell back again to 
the landing-place, and by a new and shorter 
route marched to within two miles of the French 
works. Built upon a neck of land running out 
into the lake, Ticonderoga was defended by two 
redoubts, and a strong breastwork of huge logs ; 
the approach to which was impeded by felled 
trees, stumps, and rubbish of all sorts. Behind 
this formidable breastwork, which Abercrombie, 
remaining distant from the scene of conflict, 
ordered his men to assault, Montcalm, the active 
and sagacious leader of the French, was posted 
with the greater part of his three thousand four 
hundred men. 

On the 8th of July the attack was made. 
After struggling for four hours, obstinately and 
with the most remarkable bravery, to execute 
the unwise and hastily-formed plan of their 



176 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1758. 

leader, the assailants were driven back, with a 
loss of more than two thousand of their number. 
Their precipitate retreat to Fort William Henry 
would have been a disorderly route, had it not 
been for the exertions of Bradstreet, Putnam, 
and others of the provincial officers. 

At Fort William Henry, the energetic Brad- 
street projected an expedition against Frontenac, 
an important French post, on the Canadian shore 
of Lake Ontario. Beluctantly supplied by Aber- 
crombie with the necessary troops, he speedily 
and successfully put his plans into execution. 
Deprived of their wonted supplies by the capture 
of Frontenac, the French garrison of Fort Du- 
quesne, on the approach of the expedition under 
Forbes, set fire to their works, and retreated 
down the Ohio. On the 25th of November the 
English forces took possession of the deserted 
post. 

Meanwhile, the field of war lying around 
Ticonderoga and Forts William Henry and Ed- 
ward, had been the scene of many personal 
adventures, the relation of some of which falls 
within the scope and plan of the present history. 

Shortly after Abercrombie's shameful retreat 
from Ticonderoga, Putnam, with five men, was 
lying in a boat, on the eastern shore of the 
Hudson, just above the rapids near Fort Miller. 
Suddenly beset by savages, he found it impos- 
sible to escape, except by way of the rapids. 



1T58.] PERILOUS ADVENTURE. 177 

With his characteristic coolness and promptitude, 
he seized the helm, and steered boldly down the 
river. Unharmed by repeated vollies from the 
rifles of the savages, but driven hither and 
thither, and at times spun round like a top by 
the furiously-eddying current, and momentarily 
m danger of being dashed to pieces on the rocks 
he encountered, Putnam guided his frail bark 
with a steady hand as it sped with arrowy swift- 
ness down the hazardous stream. A few minutes 
of breathless anxiety elapsed, and the peril was 
passed. Shot from the foaming and roaring 
rapids, Putnam and his comrades glided quietly 
over the smooth waters below. 

" On witnessing this spectacle," says the ori-* 
gmal narrator, u a is asserted that the Indians 
were affected with the same sort of superstitious 
veneration which the Europeans, in the dark 
ages, entertained for some of their most valorous 
companions. They deemed the man invulnerable, 
whom their balls on his pushing from the shore 
could not touch, and whom they had seen steer- 
ing in safety down the rapids that had never 
before been passed. They conceived it would be 
an affront against the Great Spirit to kill this 
favoured mortal with powder and ball, if they 
should ever see him and know him again." 

A week or so later Putnam was not so for- 
tunate. Five hundred rangers having been 
detached under Major Rogers and himself, to 



178 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1758. 

■watch the enemy near Ticonderoga, were return- 
ing to Fort Edward, when they fell into an am- 
bush, skilfully prepared by Molang, a celebrated 
French partisan, who had with him an equal 
number of Indians and Canadians. It was early 
morning, and the Americans had just left their 
encampment. Though unlooked for, the assault 
was sustained with coolness and intrepidity by 
Putnam, who led the advance. 

In the heat of the conflict that ensued, the 
gallant major presented his musket to the breast 
of an athletic savage. The weapon missed fire. 
Powerful though he was, Putnam was now no 
match for his antagonist. He yielded himself 
prisoner. Binding him securely to a tree, his 
captor again entered the fray. 

While thus bound, unable to move a limb, the 
conflict raged furiously around the spot where 
Putnam was confined. Midway between the 
contending parties, his position was one of ex- 
treme peril. Bullets from foes and friends 
whistled continually by ; many struck the tree 
to which he was bound; and several passed 
through various parts of his coat. Once, too, a 
young savage amused himself by throwing his 
tomahawk at the prisoner, to see how near to 
him he could hurl it, without striking him ; and 
another, a brutal Frenchman, having vainly 
endeavoured to discharge his musket in Putnam's 



1758.] NARROW ESCAPE. 179 

breast, with the butt of it struck him a terrible 
blow upon the cheek. 

At length, after a long and obstinate conflict, 
the provincials drove the enemy from the field. 
Putnam, however, was carried off a prisoner. 
Stripped of his coat, vest, stockings and shoes, 
with his hands tied painfully together, and la- 
bouring under the load of several heavy packs, 
he was compelled to march rapidly over a rugged 
and stony path, by which his feet were bruised 
and lacerated at almost every step. 

Toward evening he was sent forward with a 
party of Indians to the place where it was pro- 
posed to encamp that night. On the way his 
sufferings were augmented by a severe gash on 
the cheek from a tomahawk. 

Halting at dusk in the deep shadows of the 
primeval forest, Putnam's barbarian escort, strip- 
ping him naked, bound him to a tree, and with 
wild songs of exultation began to pile around 
him heaps of dry fuel. Calmly and courage- 
ously the captive awaited what he knew would 
be a horrible death. One of the heaps was 
blown into a light blaze, but a passing shower 
extinguished it. Again and again was the torch 
applied to the collected fuel. Presently the 
flames burned briskly. Putnam was the centre 
of a circle of fire. Already he writhed with 
torture, but permitted no groan to escape him, 
when a French officer, breaking through the 



180 HISTORY OP CONNECTICUT. [1T59. 

throng of dancing and yelling savages, dashed 
aside the blazing brands, and Tvith his sword 
severed the thongs that bound the suffering 
captive. 

Thus rescued by the brave Molang himself, 
Putnam was finally taken to Montreal. When 
he arrived there, he was a doleful spectacle; 
scantily covered with rags, barefooted, bruised, 
gashed, and unshorn. Colonel Schuyler, of New 
Jersey, then a prisoner at Montreal, with that 
kindness which formed a prominent trait in his 
character, promptly supplied all the wants -of his 
less fortunate fellow-captive ; and, when the 
taking of Frontenac occasioned an exchange of 
prisoners, he procured the release of Putnam, 
who was presently sent home. 

Incited by the general success of the late 
campaign, Pitt, in 1759, planned the complete 
conquest of Canada. Three expeditions were 
projected: one against Quebec, and two others, 
intended to co-operate with it, against Niagara 
and Crown Point. Stimulated by a prompt re- 
imbursal of their last year's expenses, the colo- 
nies displayed an unusual degree of energy. 
Connecticut, alone, enlisted four regiments, 
numbering in all six thousand men, and respec- 
tively commanded by Major-General Lyman and 
Colonels Whiting, Wooster and Fitch. Putnam 
again took the field as lieutenant-colonel of the 
fourth regiment. 



1760.] CAMPAIGN OF 1760. . 181 

Movino- first. General Prideaux, on the 6th 
of Julj, invested Niagara. During the siege 
he was killed by the bursting of a cohorn. On 
the 25th, the fort surrendered to Sir "William 
Johnson, upon whom the command of the be- 
sieging force had devolved. 

Advancing with cautious slowness. General 
Amherst, the successor of Abercrombie, after 
several skirmishes, took possession of the now 
abandoned fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point ; but, like Johnson, was unable to proceed 
to Canada, and, by an attack upon Montreal, 
co-operate with the main expedition against 
Quebec. The result of this latter is .well known, 
nor need the narrative of it be detailed here. 
Losing his life in the moment of glorious victory, 
the gallant Wolfe, after an arduous siege of 
nearly four months, succeeded in wresting from- 
France its most important fortress in the New 
World. With the surrender of Quebec to the 
English, the French power in North America 
was effectually broken. 

Eager to complete the subjugation of Canada, 
the New England colonies entered into the cam- 
paign of 1760 with their customary spirit. Mon- 
treal being still in the possession of the French, 
three armies were speedily set in motion, to meet 
under its walls. While General Murray advanced 
by the river from Quebec, and Colonel Haviland 
from Crown Point by way of Lake Champkin, 

16 



182 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1760. 

Amherst himself, at the head of ten thousand 
men, among whom were many of the Connecticut 
levies, embarked at Oswego, and sailed down 
Lake Ontario into the St. Lawrence. 

Descending the river, the troops encountered 
two armed vessels, w^hich not only barred their 
farther progress, but prevented an attack upon 
Fort Oswegatchie, a short distance below. Put- 
nam, whose regiment accompanied the expedi- 
tion, undertook with a thousand men to capture 
the ships. Provided with an old beetle, and a 
number of wedges, with which he proposed to 
block the rudders of the vessels, so as to prevent 
them from bringing their broadsides to bear, he 
s^t out to execute his bold and novel enterprise. 
Unexpectedly, however, no resistance was made. 
Forced by a mutinous crew, the commander of 
one ship struck his flag ; the other was run 
ashore. 

Fort Oswegatchie was next to be reduced. 
Insulated and defended by a strong abatis, 
which overhung the water's edge, it seemed 
scarcely accessible ; but Putnam's ingenuity 
projected a novel plan for its capture. Under 
his directions boats were made ready, com- 
pletely musket-proof, and with a broad plank, 
twenty feet long, attached to the bow of each, 
so that it could be raised or lowered at pleasure. 
These boats were to be rowed directly against 
the abattis ; over the projecting stakes of which 



1760.] SURRENDER OF MONTREAL. 183 

the planks, till then upright, were to be let fall, 
so as to form a kind of bridge, bj which the 
assailants might enter the fort. "What would 
have been the success of this singular contri- 
vance, if it had been necessary to make use of 
it, can only be conjectured. Disconcerted by 
the strange appearance of the boats as they 
moved to the attack, the garrison surrendered 
without firing a gun. 

From Amherst, Putnam received the highest 
encomiums for his ingenuity and daring. What- 
ever might have been the merit of his plans, 
measured by the rules of military engineering, 
they certainly rendered the passage of the army 
down the river much quicker than the most san- 
guine had hoped that it would be. In conse- 
quence, Amherst and Murray, advancing from 
opposite directions, appeared before Montreal on 
the same day. Joined the following morning by 
Haviland, Amherst found himself at the head of 
an overwhelming force, against which the French 
offered no resistance. By the surrender of Mon- 
treal, on the 8th of September, the conquest of 
Canada was made complete. 

During the subsequent year there was a con- 
siderable body of provincials called out, but 
they were mainly employed in repairing and 
strengthening the captured forts. 

Among the new recruits from Connecticut, 
who thus performed duty at Ticonderoga, was a 



184 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1760. 

youth of nineteen, Benedict Arnold by name, 
and the runaway apprentice of an apothecary at 
Norwich, the place of his birth. What in after 
years the man became to his country the boy 
Arnold already was to the little circle in which 
he moved — its admiration and detestation. Like 
his only good quality — determined and chival- 
rous, yet rash and reckless daring — his vices, 
which we are told were many, all sprung from 
tlie one bad principle of selfishness. Always 
foremost in danger, he sought only to gain ap- 
plause. As mischievous as he was fearless, his 
boyish tricks seem to have been always cruel, 
merely to gratify himself. Of these traits anec- 
dotes have been preserved. " One of his earliest 
amusements," writes his biographer, "was the 
robbing of birds' nests ; and it was his custom 
to maim and mangle young birds in sight of the 
old ones, that he might be diverted by their 
cries." Of his reckless daring it is related, 
that <' sometimes he took corn to a grist-mill in 
the neighbourhood, and, while waiting for the 
meal, he would amuse himself and astonish his 
playmates by clinging to the arms of a large 
water-wheel and passing with it beneath and 
above the water." 

To one as ambitious for distinction as young 
Arnold, the unobtrusive duties of an apothecary 
were not at all attractive. Once previous, when 
only sixteen, he had enlisted ; but this caused 



1760.] BENEDICT AKNOLD. 185 

his mother such distress, that her friends pro- 
cured his release and brought him home again. 
On the present occasion, either the dullness of 
the campaign afforded him no opportunity to 
gratify his love of stirring adventure, or the re- 
straints of garrison life proved irksome to the 
restless and unyielding spirit that swayed him ; 
for, before the year was out, he deserted and 
returned home, narrowly escaping the vigilance 
of an officer sent in pursuit of himself and other 
recusants. 



16" 



186 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1762. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Spain joins France against England — Expedition against Ha- 
vana — Putnam joins it — Transport bearing the Connecticut 
regiment driven on a reef— Escape of all on board — Havana 
taken — Great mortality among the provincial troops — Peace 
of Fontainebleau — Wyoming settled by Connecticut emi- 
grants — Jurisdiction claim of Connecticut — Wyoming set- 
tlers driven away by the Indians — Stamp Act proposed — 
Alarm of the colonies — Colonel Barre's reply to Townshend 
— Stamp Act passed — Course of Governor Fitch — Of Trum- 
bull and Putnam — National Congress assembles — Its action 
— Proceedings approved by Connecticut — " Sons of Liberty" 
— IngersoU's address to the Connecticut people — Stamp Act 
a nullity — It is repealed — Rejoicings in Connecticut — Sad 
accident at Hartford — Townshend's revenue bill passed — 
Action of the colonies — Pitkin governor of Connecticut — 
Townshend's bill repealed — Wyoming reoccupied by emi- 
grants from Connecticut — Collisions with the Pennsylvanians 
— Connecticut people triumphant — Assumption of jurisdic- 
tion by Connecticut. 

Meanwhile, aggrieved by the establishment 
of British commercial posts in Central America, 
Spain had entered into what was called the 
"Family Compact" with France. Hostilities 
were again commenced vigorously, but not on 
the North American continent. To humble 
Spain, a powerful armament was fitted out in 
England against Havana. In addition to four 
regular regiments from New York, a large body 



1763.] SIEGE OF HAVANA. 187 

of provincials, under General Lyman, was or- 
dered to join the expedition. Putnam accom- 
panied as commander of the Connecticut regi- 
ment. 

Arriving safely on the coast of Cuba, the fleet 
there encountered a terrible storm, during which 
the transport bearing Putnam and half the Con- 
necticut regiment was driven upon a reef. All 
on board succeeded, however, in gaining the 
shore, where they remained strongly intrenched 
till the storm had lulled, and then re-embarked 
in the convoy. The fleet then sailed for Havana, 
which the English troops had already invested. 
The arrival of the American reinforcements gave 
new life and energy to the besiegers, who, in a 
few weeks, had lost half their number by priva- 
tions, sickness, and in unsuccessful assaults. 
Incited to fresh efi"ort, they speedily forced Ha- 
vana into a capitulation, on the 12th of August, 
1762. But the victory was dearly purchased by 
the English, who sunk by hundreds under the 
baneful influence of an unaccustomed climate. 
Of the provincial regiments, only a feeble rem- 
nant, composed chiefly of officers, lived to return 
home. 

The capture of Havana, and other successes of 
the English, speedily brought the allied powers 
to terms. Pf^ce was finally restored by the 
treaty arranged at Fontainebleau in November, 
1762, and signed at Paris, February 10th, 1763. 



188 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1763. 

By this treaty, all the North American conti- 
nent east of the Mississippi was ceded to Great 
Britain. 

Early in the subsequent spring, a small band 
of emigrants left Connecticut, and, after toiling 
through the intervening -wilderness, began to 
build their cabins in that beautiful, but till then 
unsettled region, which has since become cele- 
brated as the Valley of Wyoming. These emi- 
grants were the pioneers of other and larger 
bodies sent out by the ^^ Susquehanna Company," 
an association of some eight hundred Connecticut 
people, who, with the sanction of the assembly, 
had purchased the tract from its Indian owners 
in 1755, but had been prevented by the war from 
settling it at that time. Over the colony thus 
planted, Connecticut claimed jurisdiction — a 
claim undoubtedly authorized by the terms of its 
charter, but which Pennsylvania, as will pre- 
sently be seen, was by no means willing to allow. 

Five years subsequent to their first settlement, 
the Wyoming colonists, while dispersed at work 
in their fields, were suddenly and unexpectedly 
attacked by the neighbouring Indians. Twenty, 
or thereabouts were slain ; many were taken 
captive; the rest abandoned their new homes, 
and fled through the woods to Connecticut. 

In the mean time, the first art of the great 
drama of the War of Independence had been wit- 
nessed. From the days of Cromwell, England 



1764.] STAMP ACT. 189 

had exercised an odious regulative and restric- 
tive power over the commerce and manufactures 
of the North American colonies. Relieved from 
other cares by the peace of 1763, the British 
ministry unwisely determined to subject the pro- 
vinces still further to the authority of the home 
government. 

Urged on by Grenville, the prime minister, 
Parliament, in March, 1764, resolved that it had 
a right to tax the colonies. With a view of ex- 
ercising the right thus claimed, it advised a bill 
requiring certain legal and other documents to 
be written on stamped paper, sold by crown 
officers, at prices which drew a stated tax from 
the purchaser. 

Ala'rm and indignation at once agitated the 
American provinces. Declaring that their liber- 
ties as British subjects would be lost, if they 
were thus taxed by a legislative body in which 
they were not represented, the colonists forward- 
ed to England remonstrance after remonstrance 
against the proposed measure. Nor did they 
lack bold and able friends in Parliament. While 
the obnoxious bill was being debated in the House 
of Commons, Townshend, one of the ministry, 
spoke of the colonists as " children planted by 
our care, nourished by our indulgence, and pro- 
tected by our arms." Rising in his seat, Colonel 
Barre, who had served in America, indignantly 
retorted : " They planted by your care ? No ! 



190 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1765. 

your oppressions planted them in an unprotected 
and inhospitable country. . . . They nourished by 
your indulgence ? They grew up by your neglect 
of them. . . . They protected by your arms ? They 
have nobly taken up arms in your defence Be- 
lieve me — remember I this day told you so — that 
the same spirit of freedom which actuated those 
sons of liberty at first, will accompany them still ; 
that they are a people jealous of their liberties, 
and will vindicate them if ever they should be 
violated." 

Unheeding the warning thus given, and re- 
gardless of the petitions and remonstrances of 
the colonists, the ministers urged the bill through 
Parliament. Finally passed in March, 1165, it 
was to become operative on the 1st of November 
following. 

The intervening period was one of intense ex- 
citement. From New Hampshire to Georgia a 
bold spirit of opposition to the Stamp Act per- 
vaded the colonies. In Connecticut, Governor 
Fitch and a majority of the assistants seemed 
little disposed to resist the operation of the mea- 
sure, but the popular feeling, directed by such 
men as Trumbull and Putnam, was earnestly 
against it. 

At the recommendation of Massachusetts, a 
national Congress, composed of delegates from 
nine colonies, assembled at New York in Octo- 
ber, and adopted a declaration of rights, a peti- 



1765.] ' SONS OF LIBERTY. 191 

tion to the king, and memorials to both houses 
of Parliament. Spirited but respectful in their 
tone, these documents exhibited in a clear and 
strong light the rights and the grievances of the 
colonists, "who, it was contended with an over- 
whelming force of argument, could not be taxed 
unless by the consent of their respective as- 
semblies. 

As the action of the Connecticut delegates 
was restricted to a report of the convention's 
proceedings, they did not sign the various pa- 
pers adopted, but the assembly gave them its 
immediate and cordial approval. 

Meanwhile, associations designed to unite the 
people in forcible opposition to the Stamp Act,, 
had been formed in the northern provinces. 
Originating in Connecticut and New York, and 
thence rapidly extending to the adjoining colo- 
nies, these associations, borrowing the name 
<' Sons of Liberty" from the speech of Barre, 
made the intimidation of stamp-officers the chief 
object of their formation, and mutually bound 
themselves to repair at once to the assistance of 
any place which might be endangered by its re- 
fusal to submit to the obnoxious law. Guided 
by combinations of this character, the popular 
spirit soon evinced itself alarmingly. 

In view of the odium to which he was subject- 
ed, Ingersoll of Connecticut, who, at the instance 
of Franklin, had accepted the office of stamp- 



192 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1786. 

distributor for his own colony, published an ad- 
dress " to the good people of Connecticut," in 
which he informed them that he '' meant them a 
service" by that acceptance; "but," he con- 
tinued, ^' if I find that you shall not incline to 
use any stamped paper, I shall not force it upon 
you, nor think it worth my while to trouble you 
or myself with any exercise of my office." 

As in Connecticut, so in the other colonies, 
the stamp-officers either resigned voluntarily, or 
were compelled to do so by threats of violence, 
which in many instances were promptly exe- 
cuted. On the 1st of November, neither stamps 
nor stamp-officers were to be seen. After a short 
delay, business proceeded as if no such things 
existed. 

A new and, ostensibly, more liberal ministry 
had meanwhile come into power. Finding that 
the obnoxious act was in effect nullified, they 
procured its repeal on the 19th of March, 1766. 
The gratification of the colonists was extreme. 
The assembly of Connecticut, which was in ses- 
sion at Hartford, when the intelligence of this 
provincial triumph arrived, appointed the Friday 
following as a day of general rejoicing, to be 
ushered in by the ringing of bells, the firing of 
cannon, and the hoisting of flags and streamers. 
But a terrible accident marred the »pleasures of 
the day. Near by where two militia companies 
were training on the green, stood a brick school- 



1767.] townshend's bill. 193 

house, containing a large quantity of powder, 
which, probably set on fire by the wadding from 
one of the soldier's guns, exploded with terrific 
violence, and killed or wounded more than thirty 
of the surrounding people. 

But if the joy of the Americans was great, 
its duration was not long. Expediency alone 
had induced Parliament to repeal the Stamp 
Act : its right to tax the colonies was still claim- 
ed. The Rockingham ministry being speedily 
overthrown, a new one was formed, prominent 
in which was the talented but changeable Charles 
Townshend. Though but a few months previous 
he had received from Massachusetts a special 
vote of thanks for having brilliantly advocated 
the annulment of the Stamp Act, Townshend 
brought forward, in January, 1767, a new bill to 
draw a revenue from the provinces by imposing 
duties on tea, paints, lead, and glass. In the 
following June, this scheme, professedly for the 
regulation of commerce, but in reality an insidi- 
ous attempt to burden the colonies with taxation, 
was carried triumphantly through both houses 
of Parliament. 

Immediately penetrating the covert design of 
Townshend' s bill, the Americans stormily agi- 
tated its repeal. Petitions and remonstrances 
flowed in upon the ministry from all parts of the 
colonies. Non-importation agreements as to cer- 
tain English goods, and plans for the encourage- 



194 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1770. 

ment of home manufactures, adopted first in 
Massachusetts, speedily found numerous friends 
in the other provinces, and especially in Con- 
necticut, where Fitch, who favoured the Tory or 
ministerial party, had been superseded by William 
Pitkin, an open advocate of the Whig or popular 
cause. 

Alarmed at length by the storm they had 
evoked, the English ministry, in April, 1770, 
procured the repeal of all the duties imposed 
under the late act, with the exception of three- 
pence a pound upon tea. Having thus gained a 
second partial triumph, the colonists, modifying 
their non-importation agreements so as to include 
tea only, for a time confined themselves chiefly 
to the consideration of minor questions of inter- 
nal polity. 

Unsubjected to the caprices of a royal go- 
vernor, Connecticut, unlike her sister colonies, 
had been little agitated by political excitements, 
except they were such as sprung from the dis- 
cussion of great national topics. Even with re- 
gard to these but an unimportant difference of 
opinion existed among the freemen, few of whom 
were not ardent Whigs and staunch friends of 
the rights of the provinces. 

But shortly previous to the partial abrogation 
of Townshend's revenue bill, events occurred 
that caused no slight stir in the local politics of 
Connecticut, and led to a contest, not unattended 



1770.] WYOMING SETTLEMENT. 195 

by bloodshed, between the inhabitants of two pro- 
vinces which, at this particular juncture, should 
have been bound together by the strongest ties 
of amity. 

In the spring of 1769 the Connecticut settlers 
of Wyoming returned to the lands from which 
they had been driven during the previous autumn. 
Unexpectedly, and greatly to their chagrin, they 
found them nearly occupied by a company of 
Pennsylvanians, to whom the proprietaries of 
Pennsylvania had granted the same territory. 
By this company a blockhouse had been built, 
and every preparation made to retain their oc- 
cupancy. 

Nevertheless, erecting a blockhouse of their 
own, the Connecticut people began to till anew 
their devastated fields. Hot disputes ensued; 
and, presently, one Aaron Ogden, at the head 
of two hundred Pennsylvanians, captured the 
eastern immigrants and obliged them to return 
to their former homes, stipulating, however, that 
their crops might be cared for by a few families 
whom he allowed to remain until fall. But, re- 
gardless of this stipulation, Ogden presently 
destroyed their cattle and harvests, and drove 
away the families that had been left to attend 
to them. 

In February, 1770, Captain Lazarus Stewart, 
returning with a party of immigrants, took Og- 
den's blockhouse, which, being soon after recap- 



196 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1770. 

tured, was again assailed by Stewart, and finally 
burned. Ogden himself was forced to leave the 
country, which, during the ensuing spring and 
summer, remained quietly in the possession of 
the Connecticut settlers. 

At this juncture, the Pennsylvania proprieta- 
ries complained to Jonathan Trumbull, the newly- 
elected governor of Connecticut. He, however, 
declared that the province was not responsible 
for the acts of the emigrants. 

In the autumn of 1770, Ogden suddenly ap- 
peared in the valley at the head of a hundred 
and fifty men, and took many of the Connecticut 
people prisoners, treating them, according to 
their own story, with great inhumanity. But 
the triumph of the Pennsylvanians was of brief 
duration. In December, Stewart returned with 
a force to which they were compelled to submit. 

A reward was now ofi*ered by the governor of 
Pennsylvania for Stewart's capture. This a 
sheriff, assisted by Ogden and his men, under- 
took to accomplish. Assailing the Connecticut 
people's blockhouse, they forced it to surrender. 
But in the attack a brother of Ogden was slain, 
while Stewart, with most of the garrison, escaped 
durinoj the nio;ht. 

In July, Captain Zebulon Butler returned from 
Connecticut with seventy men, and began a re- 
gular siege of the new fort which the Pennsylva- 
nians had just completed. As Butler was pro- 



1773.] WYOMING SETTLEMENT. 197 

vided with cannon, Ogden found his position a 
critical one. Secretly escaping down the Sus- 
quehanna, he hastened to Philadelphia, where he 
procured a hundred soldiers, and marched them 
to the assistance of his beleaguered fortress. 
Warned of Ogden's advance, and at the same 
time learning that he had divided his force, 
Butler determined to attack him in detail. His 
plans were completely successful. One division 
was ambushed and put to flight ; the other, hav- 
ing entered the fort, presently surrendered with 
its garrison. 

For two years subsequent, the Connecticut 
claimants of Wyoming remained in quiet posses- 
sion under a government of their own. In 1773, 
however, they applied to Connecticut to assume 
jurisdiction. Their claim being sustained by 
high legal authority, the assembly, after a vain 
attempt to procure an amicable arrangement 
with Pennsylvania, incorporated the Wyoming 
settlement as the town of Westmoreland, annex- 
ed it to Litchfield county, and admitted a repre- 
sentative from it into their body. This last 
proceeding seems to have met with earnest but 
unavailing opposition from a respectable party 
in Connecticut. For a while the discussion with 
regard to it raged warmly ; but other and more 
momentous questions soon caused it to be for- 
gotten. 

17* ' 



198 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1774. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Tax on tea rendered nugatory by non-importation agreements 
— Parliament attempts to force tea into America — Opposition 
of the colonies — Tea destroyed at Boston — Rage of the mi- 
nisters — Port of Boston closed — National Congress of 1774 
— Action of the Connecticut assembly — Battle of Lexington 
— Boston invested — Patriotism of Putnam — Arnold before 
Boston — Zeal of Governor Trumbull — Of the Connecticut 
assembly — Connecticut during the war — Allen and Arnold 
at the capture of Ticonderoga — Enterprise of Arnold — Com- 
plaints of his enemies — Throws up his commission — Putnam 
at the Battle of Bunker Hill — Washington commander-in- 
chief — Arnold's march through the wilderness to Quebec — 
Joins Montgomery — Assault on Quebec, and death of Mont- 
gomery — Arnold maintains the blockade of Quebec — Canada 
evacuated — Arnold the last to quit the enemy's shores. 

Meanwhile, by their non-importation and 
non-consumption agreements, the colonists had 
rendered the tax on tea almost nugatory as an 
assertion of parliamentary right. Finding that 
in consequence the East India Company's ware- 
houses were full of the obnoxious commodity, the 
English ministry prepared to force a large quan- 
tity of it into the colonies, and thus relieve the 
company from its embarrassments, and establish 
by precedent the right of taxation claimed for 
Parliament. Having removed the existing duty 
on teas exported from England, they made ar- 
rangements with the East India Company to 



1774.] TEA DESTROYED AT BOSTON. 199 

send several cargoes of tlie "pernicious weed" 
to America, where, it was hoped, as the tax was 
now only such in name, a^ood market would be 
found for it. 

But, in their opposition to the ministerial plans 
for drawing a revenue from them, the colonists 
were swayed by other and far higher than mer- 
cenary motives. The duty was now really no- 
thing, but if they should once pay it there might 
be no end to the taxes which such a surrender 
of right, principle, and liberty, would authorize 
Parliament to levy. Declaring their abhorrence 
of the new ministerial scheme, as being an in- 
sulting attempt to bribe them into a compliance 
with their own political subjection, they at once 
prepared to give it the full and inflexible force 
of their opposition. 

By the time the tea ships arrived, the whole 
country was in a ferment. At Charleston the 
tea was permitted to be stored, but not to be 
sold. The cargoes intended for New York and 
Philadelphia were sent back to England again. 
At Boston the public indignation was more vio- 
lently evinced. On the evening of the 16th of 
December an assemblage of citizens, disguised 
as Indians, boarded three vessels containing tea, 
and threw their cargoes into the ocean. 

By this decided action the object of the mi- 
nisters was signally frustrated. Their rage was 
proportioned to the completeness of their 4efeat. 



200 HISTORY OF COXNECTICUT. [1775. 

As Massachusetts and its chief city had led the 
opposition, bills were speedily adopted in Par- 
liament, by which that colony's charter was vir- 
tually annulled, and the port of Boston closed, 
greatly to the subsequent suffering of its inha- 
bitants. 

These measures but provoked the colonies to 
sterner resistance. In New England every green 
became the training-ground of well-organized 
companies of <' minute men." But, while the 
idea of an appeal to arms was thus encouraged, 
steps were taken to procure a more peaceable 
adjustment of difficulties. For this purpose a 
national Congress was called. Meeting, at 
Philadelphia, on the 5th of September, this 
body, in which Connecticut was ably represented 
by Roger Sherman and Silas Dean, adopted a 
declaration of rights, a petition to the king, and 
addresses to the people of England and of 
Canada. 

Having, on the 3d of November following, ap- 
proved the proceedings of this Congress, and 
reappointed the former delegates, the Connecti- 
cut assembly ordered cannon to be mounted at 
New London, the militia to be trained frequently, 
and the towns to lay in a double supply of ammu- 
nition. At a special session in March, 1775, . 
they commissioned David AYooster as a major- 
general, and Joseph Spencer and Israel Putnam 
as brigadiers. Fought but a few weeks after- 



1775.] ACTION OF THE ASSEMBLY. 201 

ward, on tlie 19th of April, the battle of Lex- 
ington unsheathed the sword and called the 
colonies to arms. 

The intelligence of this affair, borne swiftly 
from town to town, within two days brought a 
provincial force of twenty thousand men to the 
siege of Boston. Prominent among the officers 
commanding was the still athletic figure of Put- 
nam, who, though verging upon his sixtieth win- 
ter, had left his plough standing in the furrow, 
and, without even changing his clothes, hurried 
to the scene of hostilities. From New Haven 
came Benedict Arnold, at the head of sixty vo- 
lunteers, whom his energy had called into the 
field. 

Sharing the spirit of the aged Trumbull, whose 
patriotic zeal suffered no abatement during the 
long and wearisome War of Independence, the 
Connecticut assembly, in raising troops, pro- 
viding for their support, and in sustaining the 
awakened energies of the people, displayed the 
most commendable promptitude and vigour. A 
week after the fight at Lexington they voted for 
six regiments of a thousand men each. To officer 
these, Putnam, Wooster, and Spencer were con- 
firmed in their previous appointments, and Hin- 
man. Parsons, and Waterbury received the re- 
maining commands. Nor was it only in the first 
outbreak of resistance to the tyranny of an 
ignorant ministry that Connecticut exhibited 



202 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1775. 

this spirit of promptness and energy. During 
the whole contest for independence she sent 
large and effective armies into the field. The 
seventh in population, as near as can be calcu- 
lated, of the original thirteen colonies, she stood 
second to Massachusetts only in the number of 
her revolutionary troops, which amounted to 
nearly thirty thousand. 

Scarcely had the battle of Lexington been 
fought, when a party of forty persons hastened 
from Connecticut to Vermont, where, at Castle- 
ton, in accordance with a previous arrangement, 
they met Colonel Ethan Allen, at the head of 
more than two hundred Green Mountain Boys. 
The object of this expedition was the capture of 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Unexpectedly, 
and greatly to Allen's astonishment and indigna- 
tion, just as the little band was about to start, 
Benedict Arnold, attended by a single servant, 
made his appearance and claimed command, on 
the strength of a colonel's commission from Mas- 
sachusetts. A hot discussion ensued, and the 
expedition would have ended in nothing had not 
Arnold compromised by joining as a volunteer, 
with the rank of colonel, but without any au- 
thority. 

At early dawn on the 10th of May, the two 
rival and ambitious colonels, marching abreast, 
Arnold on the left, entered Ticonderoga, at the 
head of their men, whose huzzas, as they formed 



1775.] ENTERPKISE OF ARNOLD. 203 

a hollow square inside the fort, were the first 
notices the garrison had of an enemy. The sur- 
prised commandant at once yielded to Allen's 
energetic demand to surrender " in the name of 
the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." 
The same day Crown Point surrendered unresist- 
ingly to a detachment led by Seth Warner, who, 
like Allen, a native of Connecticut, had been one 
of the early settlers of Vermont. 

Joined by a few recruits, whose number soon 
swelled to a hundred and fifty, Arnold, on the 
strength of his Massachusetts commission, pre- 
sently took command at Crown Point, as well as 
of a little fleet which his enterprise had won 
from the enemy. Bold, restless and untiring, he 
did much valuable service, not the least of which 
was the forwarding of cannon and mortars from 
Crown Point to the army besieging Boston. 

But, overlooking his zeal, activity, and mili- 
tary skill, his enemies saw nothing in him but 
pride and presumption. Reiterated complaints 
with regard to these at length induced Massa- 
chusetts to send a committee to inquire into his 
conduct, to order his return if they thought pro- 
per, or, if he were allowed to remain, to render 
him subordinate to Hinman, who, with his Con- 
necticut regiment, was to take command of the 
captured fortresses. Permitted to read the com- 
mittee's instructions, Arnold at once disbanded 
his men, threw up his commission, and loudly 



204 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1775. 

venting his just indignation, hurried to the camp 
before Boston. 

Meantime a momentous battle had been fought 
at Bunker Hill, where, serving, according to some 
accounts, as a volunteer, or, as his biographer 
more than intimates, as commanding-officer of 
the field, Putnam had displayed his usual fear- 
lessness and self-possession. 

Two weeks subsequent to the battle of Bunker 
Hill, George Washington of Virginia, whom the 
third national Congress had just appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of the continental forces, joined 
the army before Boston, and entered immediately 
upon the active discharge of his duties. Putnam 
at the same time received from Congress a com- 
mission as major-general, while Wooster and 
Spencer were appointed brigadiers. 

Threatened by an invasion from Canada, Con- 
gress determined to anticipate it by an attack 
upon Montreal and Quebec. 

While the brave Montgomery, on his way to 
Quebec, was reducing St. John's and Montreal, 
Arnold, now commissioned as a continental colo- 
nel, was despatched through the wilderness of 
Maine to co-operate with him in capturing the 
Canadian capital. Guided by an Indian, and the 
imperfect journal of a British officer who had 
passed over the route some years before, he set 
out with eleven hundred men from Fort Western, 
on the Kennebec, late in September. The march 



1775.] MARCH TO QUEBEC. 205 

of six weeks that ensued was one of the most 
remarkable in the annals of warfare. Impetuous 
torrents were crossed, cataracts surmounted, 
craggy precipices scaled, the extremes of cold, 
hardship, toil and hunger, patiently endured. 
Though hut few lives were lost, the expedition 
encountered delays, disasters, and disappoint- 
ments sufficient to have chilled the ardour of any 
troops hut such as Arnold had inspired with 
some portion of his own adventurous daring and 
determined desire to win success. 

On the 27th of October the expedition, now 
reduced by desertion and sickness to less than 
eight hundred effective men, reached Sertigan, 
the first French settlement on the Chaudiere 
River. Here Arnold exerted himself strenuously 
to procure provisions for his troops who, during 
the last few days, had greedily devoured the flesh 
of dogs, and the soup made out of moose-skin 
moccasins. 

Ten days afterward, on the 9th of November, 
the army reached Point Levy, opposite to Quebec. 
Could Arnold have taken advantage of the sur- 
prise and consternation excited by his sudden 
appearance from the depths of an almost un- 
trodden wilderness, the city might have been 
captured with slight difficulty. But the want of 
boats to cross the St. Lawrence caused a delay 
of several days. Meanwhile, recovering from 
their consternation, the garrison prepared for a 

18 



206 HISTOKY OF CONNECTICUT. [1775. 

desperate defence. Still sanguine of success, 
Arnold, on the night of November the 14th, dar- 
ingly crossed the river, and scaled the Heights 
of Abraham. The next morning his little army 
marched within eight hundred yards of the city 
wall, and gave three loud and enthusiastic cheers, 
<' hoping to bring out the regulars to an open 
action on the plain." 

Finding that the enemy could not be induced 
to meet him on fair ground, and having no means 
to conduct a regular siege, Arnold withdrew up 
the river to Point-aux-Trembles, where he met 
Montgomery, who took command. 

The two divisions, numbering, all told, scarcely 
a thousand effective men, marched immediately 
to Quebec, which they invested in form. Failing 
to gain any advantage in a siege of three weeks, 
the two commanders, with a boldness verging 
upon desperation, resolved to hazard an assault. 
On the 31st of December this resolution was 
carried into effect. The result was a repulse, 
honourable indeed to the brave little army that 
suffered it, but rendered disastrous by the death 
of the gallant Montgomery, and the capture of 
Morgan and many of his Virginia rifles. 

After Montgomery's death the command de- 
volved upon Arnold, whose leg had been shatter- 
ed in the assault. Still loath to quit an enterprise 
upon the success of which he had fixed his hopes, 
he withdrew three miles up the river, and, she!- 



1776.] CANADA EVACUATED. 207 

terino: his men behind breastworks of frozen 
snow, doggedly maintained the blockade of 
Quebec till spring. 

Renewed by Wooster in May, 1776, the siege 
of Quebec was finally abandoned. Affairs now 
assumed an aspect unfavourable to the Ame- 
ricans. Almost decimated by small-pox, greatly 
outnumbered by the enemy, and suffering reverse 
after reverse, the northern army, defeated but 
not disgraced, slowly and reluctantly retreated 
from the province it had so nearly won. 

At St. John's, the last Canadian post to be 
evacuated, Arnold, who commanded the rear of 
the army, lingered " till he had seen every boat 
leave the shore but his own. He mounted his 
horse, and, attended by Wilkinson his aid-de- 
camp, rode back two miles, when they discovered 
the enemy's advanced division in full march. 
They gazed at it, or, in military phrase, recon- 
noitred it for a short time, and then hastened 
back to St. John's. A boat being in readiness 
to receive them, the horses were stripped and 
shot, the men ordered on board, and Arnold, 
refusing all assistance, pushed off the boat with 
his own hand ; thus, says Wilkinson, ' indulging 
the vanity of being the last man who embarked 
from the shores of the enemy.' The sun was now 
down, and darkness followed, but the boat over- 
took the army in the night at Isle-au-Noix." 



208 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1776. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Boston evacuated — Declaration of Independence — Battle of 
Brooklyn Heights — Nathan Hale — His patriotism — He is 
captured by the British — Is sentenced to death as a spy — 
Cruelty of his captors — His last words — New York captured 
— Death of Colonel Knowlton — Arnold on Lake Champlain 
—Charge of dishonesty preferred against him — Washington 
retreats across the Jerseys — -Battles of Trenton and Prince- 
ton — Neglect of Arnold by Congress — Tryon's attack on 
Danbury — British assailed by the militia — Death of Wooster 
— Bravery of Arnold — Exploit of Colonel Meigs — Arnold 
appointed a major-general — Singular inconsistency of Con- 
gress — Arnold demands an investigation into his conduct — 
Favourable report of the Board of War — Action of Congress 
— Arnold tenders his resignation — At the recommendation 
of Washington is sent to the northern army — Battles of 
Behmus' Heights — Surrender of Burgoyne. 

On the 26th of March, 1776, General Howe 
evacuated Boston with seven thousand British 
troops. By this time the desire of the American 
people to dissolve their political union with Eng- 
*land had become evident. In Connecticut, the 
oath of allegiance to the king was dispensed 
with on the 6th of May. On the 17th of June, 
the assembly instructed its representatives in 
Congress "to give their assent to a declaration 
of independence." Pending the final action of 
Congress upon this subject, Howe, with the late 
garrison of Boston, landed on Staten Island, and 



1776.] BATTLE OF BROOKLYN HEIGHTS. 209 

there aTvaited reinforcements, preparatory to an 
attack on Xew York. Six days afterward, on 
the 4th of July, the Declaration of Independence, 
as drafted by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, was 
adopted by Congress, and signed, on behalf of 
Connecticut, by Roger Sherman, Samuel Hunt- 
ington, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott. 

After more than a month's delay, Howe, with 
a well-appointed army of tw^enty-four thousand 
regulars, advanced upon New York. To oppose 
him, Washington had a force somewhat superior 
in numbers but illy-equipped and undisciplined. 
On the 28th of August the battle of Brooklyn 
Heights was fought, in which the Americans, 
commanded by Putnam, met with a disastrous, 
but not dishonourable defeat. Two days subse- 
quently, Long Island was abandoned to the 
enemy. 

Having fixed his head-quarters at Morrisiana, 
Washington presently found it highly important 
that he should learn the strength and position 
of the enemy at Brooklyn. To Colonel Knowlton,. 
commander of a Connecticut regiment, he in- 
trusted the task of procuring a person of intelli- 
gence willing to risk the dangers of an attempt 
to obtain the desired information. 

Among Knowlton's subordinate officers, to 
whom he disclosed the wishes of Washington, 
was Nathan Hale of New Haven, a young cap- 
tain, with the academic honours of Yale College 



210 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1776. 

yet fresh upon his brow. An enthusiast in the 
cause of liberty, the battle of Lexington had 
called him to the field, where his genius, talents, 
activity, and assiduous attention to discipline, 
were fast winning him an enviable reputation. 
Impelled solely by a desire to serve his country, 
young Hale made known to his superior his in- 
tention of undertaking the enterprise proposed 
by the commander-in-chief. In vain his friends 
endeavoured to dissuade him from an attempt 
which, if successful, would gain him neither glory 
nor pecuniary reward, and, if he should be de- 
tected in it, would inevitably hurry him to an 
ignominious end. Replying that '^ every kind 
of service necessary to the public good was 
honourable," he disguised himself and crossed 
over to Long Island. 

As he was on the point of returning with the 
intelligence Washington required. Hale was un- 
fortunately arrested. To Howe, before whom he 
was immediately taken, he frankly acknowledged 
the design of his visit to the camp. He was 
tried, found guilty, and in accordance with the 
laws of war, sentenced to be hanged the next 
morning as a spy. 

<'This sentence the prisoner was prepared to 
meet with a fortitude becoming his character. 
But the circumstances of his death aggravated 
his sufferings. The provost-martial, to whose 
charge he was consigned, was a refugee, and 



1776.] DEATH OF KNOWLTON. 211 

treated him most unfeelingly, refusing tlie attend- 
ance of a clergyman and the use of a Bible, and 
destroying the letters he had written to his 
mother and friends. 

" In the midst of these barbarities, Hale was 
calm, collected, firm — displaying to the last his 
native elevation of soul, dignity of deportment, 
and an undaunted com-age. Alone, unfriended, 
without consolation or sympathy, he closed his 
mortal career, with the declaration, " that he 
only lamented he had but one life to lose for his 
country !" 

Soon after this sad termination of young Hale's 
promising career, Howe efi'ected a landing on 
York Island, three miles above the city. Panic- 
stricken, the militia stationed to oppose his de- 
barkation, fled disgracefully, notwithstanding the 
strenuous efforts of Washington and Putnam to 
rally them. 

In a considerable skirmish the next day, the 
Americans, behaving with commendable gal- 
lantry, routed the enemy in a hand-to-hand en- 
counter. But this momentary triumph, rendered 
a melancholy one by the death of Colonel Knowl- 
ton, though it wiped away the stain of the pre- 
vious defeat, did not prevent Howe from taking 
possession of New York. 

Meanwhile, the northern army, driven out of 
Canada, had abandoned Crown Point and fallen 
back upon Ticonderoga. In two successive naval 



212 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1776. 

engagements, fought on the 6th and 7th af Oc- 
tober, and which resulted in the American loss 
of Lake Champlain, Arnold, as commander of 
the continental fleet, had, by his heroism and 
skill, "covered himself with glory," and con- 
verted what were really disasters " into a species 
of triumph." 

Even before this time, however, the defects of 
Arnold's character had begun to dim the bright- 
ness of his military reputation. His seizure of 
certain goods belonging to merchants of Mon- 
treal had already subjected him to a charge of 
dishonesty in the exercise of his public functions. 
Though the facts of this affair did not fully sus- 
tain the accusation, there were many who believed 
it true, from their own knowledge of Arnold's 
want of straightforwardness in his private deal- 
ings; while his challenge of the court-martial, 
individually and collectively, by which the charge 
was being examined, afforded very slight evidence 
of due reflection, proper self-respect, or genuine 
sensitiveness, on the part of the challenger. 

The northern army, or what remained of it, 
was already quartered for the winter, when, 
having encountered disaster after disaster, Wash- 
ington was finally driven, with '^the phantom of 
an army," across the Jerseys to the western bank 
of the Delaware, opposite Trenton. 

The cause of liberty now seemed lost. But, 
before the gloom created by the misfortunes of 



1777.] NEGLECT OF ARXOLD 213 

the campaign could become settled, the victories 
of Trenton and Princeton, following each other 
in quick succession, gave new life and vigour to 
the hopes of the Americans. Having thus, in 
little more than a week, wholly neutralized the 
dispiriting effects of the previous successes of the 
enemy, Washington retired to winter-quarters at 
Morristown. 

Previous to the opening of the campaign of 
1777, Congress appointed five new major-gene- 
rals, all the juniors of Arnold, over whom they 
were elevated. The avowed reason for this 
silent censure, or, at least, unjustifiable neglect 
of the most brilliant officer in the army, was that 
"the members from each state insisted upon 
having general officers proportioned to the num- 
ber of troops furnished by it, and, as Connecticut 
had already two major-generals, there was no 
vacancy for another." '• I confess," wrote Wash- 
ington to the mortified and indignant Arnold, 
<'this is a strange mode of reasoning, but it may 
show you that the promotion, which was due to 
your seniority, was not overlooked for want of 
merit in you." 

Arnold, who knew that he had many enemies, 
would not rest satisfied with this explanation. 
He insisted that his character was at stake ; and, 
notwithstanding the kindly-written advice of 
Washington, determined to proceed to head- 
quarters, and personally solicit leave to visit 



214 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1777. 

Pliiladelphia, to demand of Congress an investi- 
gation into his conduct. 

About the time he departed from Rhode Island 
with this design, in April, 1777, Governor Tryon 
left New York, at the head of two thousand men, 
landed between Fairfield and Norwalk, and, un- 
opposed, penetrated the country to Danbury, 
where he burned eighteen dwelling-houses, toge- 
ther with a large and valuable collection of public 
stores. In the mean time. Generals Wooster and 
Silliman l\ad succeeded in collecting about six 
hundred of the Connecticut militia, when they 
were joined by Arnold, who volunteered to take 
part in their intended attack upon Tryon. The 
force was now divided. Wooster, with two hun- 
dred men, undertook to harass the British rear ; 
while Arnold and Silliman, leading the other 
division by a nearer route, were to cut off their 
retreat. • 

' Quickly coming up with Tryon 's rear-guard, 
Wooster, an old man of sixty-six winters, led a 
spirited attack. Few of his men had ever been 
in battle. Met by a brisk fire from the British 
artillery and musketry, they seemed ready to 
fly. At this moment, to encourage them, Wooster 
spurred forward his horse, and, waving his sword 
toward the enemy, called out, "Come on, my 
boys ! never mind such random shot." Scarcely 
had the words left his lips, when, struck in the 
side by a musket-ball, he fell heavily to the 



1777.] BRAVERY or ARXOLD. 215 

ground. His men then retreated to Danbury, 
where he died. 

Meanwhile, Arnold had taken a strong posi- 
tion at Ridgefield, and thrown up a barricade 
of carts, logs, and earth, across the road by 
which the British were expected to pass. About 
three in the afternoon, Tryon's leading column 
made its appearance. A brisk engagement en- 
sued. For nearly half an hour the Americans 
obstinately maintained their ground against a 
force of four to one. At length, finding both 
his flanks in danger of being turned, Arnold or- 
dered a retreat, remaining himself alone upon 
the field. Climbing above the ridge of rocks 
which had protected the American left, a platoon 
of the enemy fired upon the solitary chief. His 
horse fell under him in the agonies of death. 
Cool, collected, watchful, Arnold sat upon his 
struggling steed, while one of the soldiers rushed 
forward to bayonet him. Waiting till his op- 
ponent was quite near him, he drew a pistol from 
his holsters, took deliberate aim and fired. As 
the soldier fell dead, Arnold sprang to his feet, 
and escaped unhurt to his troops. Rallying them, 
he continued to harass the British severely 
during their entire march to the sea-shore. Here 
he had a second horse shot, in a skirmish with 
the enemy previous to their embarkation. 
Tryon's loss during his retreat was one hundred 



216 HISTOKY OF CONNECTICUT. [1777. 

and seventy in killed and wounded, almost double ' 
that of the militia. 

Retaliating Tryon's plundering expedition, 
Colonel Meigs, of Connecticut, left New Haven 
on the 21st of May, with two hundred men, in 
thirteen whale-boats, and, landing on the east 
end of Long Island, forced his way to Sag Har- 
bour, burned thirteen of the enemy's vessels, 
took ninety prisoners, and returned to Guilford 
without losing a man. For his "prudence, ac- 
tivity, enterprise and valour," Meigs received a 
letter of approbation from Washington, and a 
sword from Congress. 

Meanwhile Arnold's bravery in the attacks 
upon Tryon had extorted from Congress his ap- 
pointment as a major-general. But, singularly 
enough, he was still left, by the date of his com- 
mission, below the major-generals who had been 
raised over him. Viewing his promotion, or the 
manner of it, as a species of degradation, he at 
once proceeded to Philadelphia, and demanded 
an investigation into his conduct. " I am ex- 
ceedingly unhappy," so he wrote to Congress, 
"to find, that after having made every sacrifice 
to serve my country, I am publicly impeached 
of crimes which, if true, ought to subject me to 
disgrace, infamy, and the just resentment of my 
countrymen. Conscious of the rectitude of my 
intentions, however I may have erred in judg- 
ment, I must request the favour of Congress to 



1T7T.] ARNOLD BEFORE CONGRESS. 217 

point out some mode by which my conduct and 
that of my accusers may be inquired into, and 
justice done to the innocent and injured." 

Congress having referred this letter to the 
Board of War, that body, after examining nu- 
merous documents, relating chiefly to the Mon- 
treal affair, reported their entire satisfaction as 
to Arnold's character and conduct, which they 
declared "had been so cruelly and groundlessly 
aspersed." Agreeing to this report, Congress 
however said nothing about restoring Arnold to 
his relative rank. Their gift to him of a horse, 
fully caparisoned, did little to soften the chagrin 
and anger which he evidently felt. 

Worried and disgusted at length by the in- 
consistency of Congress, Arnold tendered his 
resignation. On the very day that Arnold did 
this Congress received a letter from Washing- 
ton, recommending him to be sent to the north- 
ern army, which, having evacuated Ticonderoga, 
was slowly retiring before a formidable British 
force under General Burgoyne. Flattered by 
the language in which his chief spoke of him^ 
and " looking forward to a scene of action in 
which he always delighted," Arnold procm-ed 
a suspension of his demand for leave to resign, 
and hastened to join the troops at Fort Edward, 
where he arrived late in July. 

Following up the capture of Ticonderoga, Bur- 
goyne pressed on triumphantly till the fatal de- 

19 



218 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1777. 

feat of Baum at Bennington, and the failure of 
St. Leger's enterprise against Fort Schuyler, 
began to turn the tide of British success and 
revive the hopes of the Americans. On the 19th 
of September was fought the first battle of 
Behmus' Heights, which being doubtful in its 
result was almost as disastrous to Burgoyne as 
a defeat. 

For more than a fortnight subsequent to this 
affair, the two armies remained near each other 
without coming to a general engagement. In 
the mean time a sharp quarrel sprung up be- 
tween Arnold and Gates, the commander of the 
American forces. Whether the presumption and 
hasty temper of Arnold, or the arrogance and 
envy of Gates were the causes of this dispute, 
is a matter of uncertainty. Its efi*ect was to 
deprive Arnold of his command in the division. 

«' When the second battle of Behmus' Heights 
commenced, on the 7th of October" — we con- 
dense from Sparks — "Arnold was in a state of 
high excitement and apparent irritation. At 
length, without instructions or permission, he 
rode off in a full gallop to the field of battle. 
This being told to Gates, he sent Major Arm- 
strong after him with orders. As soon as Arnold 
saw Armstrong, remembering, doubtless, a per- 
emptory order to return while on his way out to 
the former action, he put spurs to his horse and 
quickened his speed. Armstrong pursued, with- 



1777.] SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE. 219 

out being able to approach near enough to speak 
to him. And, in fact, Arnold received no orders 
during the day, but rode about the field in every 
direction, seeking the hottest parts of the action, 
and issuing his commands wherever he went. 

''Being the highest officer in rank on the 
field, his orders were obeyed when practicable. 
All accounts agree that his conduct was rash. 
He threw hinself heedlessly into the most exposed 
situations, brandishino- his sword and animatino- 
the troops. But the brilliant manoeuvre with 
which the engagement was closed, the assault 
of the enemy's works and driving the Hessians 
from their encampment, was undoubtedly owing 
to Arnold. He gave the order, and by his per- 
sonal bravery set an example to the troops. He 
was shot through the leg while riding gallantly 
into the sally-port, and his horse fell dead under 
him. The success of the assault was complete, 
and crowned the day with victory." 

Thus defeated, with his communications cut 
ofi", his provisions and supplies failing, and his 
troops fast deserting him, Burgoyne, on the 
17th of October, reluctantly surrendered to 
Gates. 



220 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1777. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Effect of Burgoyne's surrender — Arnold raised to his full rank 
— Lord North's conciliatory bills — Alliance with France — 
Battle of Monmouth — Massacre of Wyoming — Close of the 
campaign — Mutiny at Danbury — Putnam's address to the 
troops — Its good effect — Tryon at Horseneck — Perilous feat 
of Putnam — British operations in the south — Movements of 
Clinton — Tryon's attack on New Haven — Murder of inha- 
bitants — Patriotism of Rev. Mr. Dagget — Burning of Fair- 
field and Norwalk — Stony Point retaken by Wayne — Sul- 
livan's expedition against the Indians. 

Burgoyne's capture, the tidings of which were 
received with the utmost joy by the American 
people, shed a brilliant lustre over a campaign 
that otherwise would have closed in the deepest 
gloom. Defeated on the Brandywine, forced to 
abandon Philadelphia, and repulsed in an attack 
upon the British at Germantown, Washington 
retired into winter quarters at Valley Forge. 

The wild, impetuous, and perhaps rash, but 
still successful daring displayed by Arnold in 
the second battle of Behmus' Heights, whether 
it sprung from the use of stimulants — as has 
been harshly intimated — or from the desperate 
workings of his wounded pride, nevertheless re- 
sulted most fortunately for himself. His military 



1777.] CONCILIATORY BILLS. 221 

glory was enhanced ; his popularity increased ; 
and Congress was compelled to concede to him 
the full rank he had hitherto so unavailingly 
demanded. 

In England, the intelligence of Burgoyne's 
surrender created a great sensation, and mate- 
rially changed the course of the ministry. Bills 
were presently introduced into Parliament by 
Lord North, virtually relinquishing the original 
ground of dispute, and appointing commissioners 
with full authority to treat for the return of the 
Americans to their allegiance. 

But North's " conciliatory" bills, by affording 
evidence that England was growing tired of the 
contest, only strengthened the determination of 
the revolted colonies to win their entire inde- 
pendence. Nor was this all that they effected. 
On learning the probability of their being sanc- 
tioned by Parliament, France acceded to the 
long-pending proposition of the American com- 
missioners at Paris, and immediately arranged 
with the United States an offensive and defensive 
alliance against Great Britain. The motives of 
the French Government in forming this alliance 
may not have been the most disinterested ; but, 
adding greatly to the already rising hopes of the 
colonists, proved in the end of signal advantage 
to them. 

Informed that a French fleet was on its way to 
North America, Sir Henry Clinton, the successor 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1778. 

of Howe, apprehensive of the Delaware's being 
blockaded, evacuated Philadelphia with all his 
forces on the 18th of June, 1778. Retreating 
across the Jerseys, he was pursued by Wash- 
ington, who came up with him at Monmouth, on 
the morning of the 28th. A spirited but indeci- 
sive action ensued, and lasted until night ; under 
cover of which Clinton made good his retreat to 
Sandy Hook, whence he soon afterwarii embark- 
ed, without further molestation, for the city of 
New York. 

A few days subsequent to the battle of Mon- ' 
mouth, a severe and devastating blow fell upon 
the settlements at Wyoming, the jurisdiction of 
which was yet claimed by Pennsylvania and ex- 
ercised by Connecticut. 

At the opening of the Revolution, the Con- 
necticut settlers of Wyoming eagerly embraced 
the cause of independence. Numbering scarcely 
twenty-five hundred, they had contributed no 
less than two full companies to the continentals 
under Washington. For the defence of the 
valley, in the spring of 1778, when already the 
settlers' "pathways were ambushed, and mid- 
night was often red with the conflagrations of 
their dwellings," there remained only a few 
militia, and a newly-enlisted company of conti- 
nentals, all poorly provided with arms and am- 
munition. These troops, about five hundred in 
number, not only garrisoned six or seven rude 



1778.] MASSACRE OF WYOMING. 223 

stockades, dignified by the name of forts, but 
tilled the fields, and acted as scouts for the 
alarmed settlements. 

Such was the condition of Wyoming when, on 
the 2d of July, Colonel John Butler, at the head 
of eleven hundred Seneca Indians and Tory 
rangers, entered the valley, took quiet posses- 
sion of Wintermoot, its uppermost fort. Hastily 
assembling at Forty Fort, some two miles above 
Wilkesbarre, the settlers marched out, four hun- 
dred strong, to give the invaders battle. In the 
afternoon of July the 3d, the two forces met. 
Fighting bravely and well, the little band of 
Connecticut men at first hoped for victory. But, 
pressed by overwhelming numbers, they were at 
length thrown into inextricable confusion. The 
flight that ensued changed to a fearful scene of 
slaughter. Many of the fugitives fell at once 
beneath the murderous tomahawk ; many were 
taken captive, and at nightfall put to death 
with horrible torments ; a few escaped to Fort 
Wyoming, already crowded with terrified women 
and children. 

The following morning this last defence of the 
colony was invested. No terms would at first be 
listened to by the enemy but the unconditional 
surrender to the savages of fifteen continentals, 
who had survived the slaughter of the evening 
before. That night, however, these fifteen effected 
their escape down the river ; whereupon Butler 



224 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1778. 

consented to receive the surrender of the fort on 
favourable terms, stipulating that the settlers 
should be secured in the possession of their lives 
and property. This stipulation he seems to have 
been desirous of fulfilling ; but his Indian allies, 
incited by a few Tory renegades from the valley, 
at once spread themselves through the settle- 
ment, burned the houses, desolated the fields, 
and murdered every inhabitant that ventured to 
resist. The wretched remnant of the settlers, 
mostly women and children, fled eighty miles 
through the dismal mountain wilderness to 
Stroudsburg, the nearest military station. In 
one of the frightened, half-famished flocks that 
on this occasion crossed the Swamp of Pokono — 
or the «« Shades of Death," as it has ever since 
been called — there were no less than a hundred 
women and children, with but one man for their 
guide and protector. 

Though Wyoming was presently reoccupied by 
a considerable continental force, it was long be- 
fore it recovered entirely from the efi'ects of an 
invasion in which nearly three hundred of its male 
inhabitants perished within a few days. Nor 
were the barbarities of the invaders soon forgot- 
ten. Exaggerated as they undoubtedly were by 
the panic-stricken survivors of the "massacre,'* 
they were still horrible enough, and at once ex- 
cited for the colonists the profound sympathies 
of a growing party in England, and aroused the 



1778.] CLOSE OF CAMPAIGN. 225 

stern and determined indignation of the Ameri- 
can people. 

Two days subsequent to the attack on Fort 
Wyoming, the Count D'Estaing arrived off the 
Delaware with a French fleet, having on board 
four thousand troops. Desirous of deriving some 
advantage from this opportune arrival, Wash- 
ington planned, conjointly with the French com- 
mander, an assault upon New York. Compelled 
to abandon this project, he then determined to 
attempt the reduction of Newport, in Rhode 
Island, which had been held by the British for 
more than a year. General Sullivan, with five 
thousand continentals, and an equal number of 
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts 
militia, was ordered to co-operate with D'Estaing 
on this service ; but the latter, being led away 
by the hope of engaging the English fleet, Sul- 
livan was compelled to forego all the advantages 
he had gained, abandon his position before 
Newport, and retreat precipitately from the 
island. 

In the mean time D'Estaing had been foiled 
in his attempt to engage the English squadron, 
and, with many vessels seriously damaged by a 
furious tempest, was forced to take shelter in 
Boston harbour. 

With the failure of this project the northern 
campaign virtually closed. After a series of 
unimportant skirmishes, the American army was 



226 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1778. 

quartered for the winter in a line of cantonments 
extending from Elizabethtown, in New Jersey, 
to Danburj, in Connecticut. 

During the winter, the troops at Danbury, 
composed chiefly of two Connecticut brigades 
under Putnam, were led, by their sufferings for 
the want of many necessaries, to enter into an 
agreement to proceed in a body to Hartford, and 
demand immediate relief from the assembly then 
in session. The mutiny was already ripe, and 
one brigade under arms, preparatory to march- 
ing off, when Putnam received the first intima- 
tion of it. Hurriedly mounting his horse, he 
galloped to where the men were drawn up, under 
the command of their sergeants. Received with 
the usual military salute of presented arms, Put- 
nam, riding along the line, thus addressed the 
revolters briefly, and with the plain frankness 
of a farmer-soldier : — 

" My brave lads, where are you going ? Do 
you intend to desert your officers, and invite the 
enemy into the country ? In whose cause have 
you been fighting and suffering so long ? Is it 
not your own ? Have you no property — no pa- 
rents — no wives — no children ? So far you have 
behaved like men. All the world is full of your 
praises. Posterity will stand astonished at your 
deeds ; but not if you spoil all at last. Let us 
stand by one another then, and fight it out like 
brave soldiers. Think what a shame it would 



1779.] FEAT OF PUTNAM. 227 

be for Connecticut men to run away from their 
officers." 

Remaining perfectly silent, the troops imme- 
diately, at the word, shouldered arms, marched 
to their respective parades, stacked their mus- 
kets, and returned cheerfully to their customary 
duties. 

A short time after this affair, on the 25th of 
February, 1779, a considerable body of the 
enemy, under General Tryon, sallied out of New 
York, to surprise the American troops at Horse- 
neck, and destroy the saltworks there. Inform- 
ed of Tryon's approach, Putnam, who happened 
to be in the neighbourhood, procured a few old 
field-pieces, and, with sixty men, prepared to 
give the invaders a warm reception. After a 
brief but spirited conflict, Putnam saw that 
Tryon's numerical superiority would soon enable 
him to outflank the position of the patriots, and 
gain a deep ravine in the rear. Following the 
directions of their leader, the little band effected 
a safe retreat to a hill beyond the enemy's 
reach. Putnam himself galloped off toward 
Stamford, to procure fresh troops. He was 
pursued ; the road in advance of him was in the 
possession of the British. Seizing the only 
chance of escape that offered, Putnam spurred 
his horse to the edge of the ravine that had pro- 
tected his rear, and dashed boldly down the 
steep and rugged descent. Pressing him close, 



228 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1779. 

his astonished pursuers, reined up with strong 
hands as they reached the hrink of the preci- 
pice, and there watched the gray-haired fugitive 
accomplish his hazardous ride in safety. None 
dared to follow. Before they could gain the 
valley by an easier route, Putnam was far on his 
way to Stamford. At that place he found a few 
militia assembled. Adding these to his former 
band, he started off in pursuit of the now re- 
treating Try on ; and, though his force w^as still 
greatly inferior to that of the enemy, he cap- 
tured two of their wagons, and took fifty of the 
party prisoners. 

Meanwhile, the British had been carrying on 
a vigorous campaign in the south. Savannah, 
and with it the greater part of Georgia, had 
already fallen into their hands. 

Northward, Sir Henry Clinton opened the 
season of warlike operations in person, by as- 
cending the Hudson and capturing the American 
forts at Yerplank's and Stony Point. Upon the 
loss of these important works, "Washington with- 
drew to the fastnesses of the Highlands ; to in- 
duce him to leave which, Clinton, early in July, 
despatched a plundering expedition under Tryon 
against Connecticut. 

Appearing oif New Haven harbour, about sun- 
rise of July 5th, Tryon immediately landed three 
thousand men. But though while disembarking 
the British met with no opposition, their march 



1779.] BURNING OF EAIRFIELD. 229 

to the to"wa was sternly resisted by the few mi- 
litia that hastily assembled. This resistance, 
however, they speedily overthrew. The town 
once in their possession, they burned a number 
of private edifices, and wantonly destroyed much 
valuable property, in addition to that which they 
afterward carried away. 

But these were not the most culpable of their 
outrages. Several of the unresisting inhabitants 
— one an old and helpless man — were murdered 
in cold blood. A wretched lunatic, having been 
first severely beaten, had his tongue cut out, and 
was finally put to death. The intercession of a 
Tory, formerly his pupil, alone saved the Rev. 
Dr. Dagget, the President of Yale College, from 
being slain. He, however, had been captured 
fighting in the ranks of the militia. On being 
asked whether, if set at liberty, he would again 
take up arms, the patriotic clergyman naively 
replied, ''I rather believe I shall, if I have an 
opportunity." After having insulted, beaten, 
and finally stabbed him, though not dangerously, 
his brutal captors were persuaded to let him go. 

The militia beginning to assemble, Tryon re- 
embarked his troops, and set sail for Fairfield. 
On the morning of the 8th he landed at Ken- 
sie's Point, not unopposed by the neighbouring 
farmers and fishermen, and presently entered 
the almost deserted town. Many females, among 
others the amiable and refined wife of Sheriff 

20 



230 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1Y79. 

Burr, endeavoured to prevail upon Tryon to 
save the town from the ravages of his Hessians 
and Tory followers. But their appeals were 
urged in vain. Having plundered the inhabit- 
ants of a large amount of property, the British 
set the village in flames, and hastened to their 
shipping. Of one hundred and seventy-three 
buildings, including two churches, and eighty- 
five dwelling-houses, they left nothing but the 
blackened and smoking ruins. 

Norwalk was the next point assailed by the 
marauders. Landing on the coast at no great 
distance from that town, Tryon was met and 
momentarily checked by a small body of conti- 
nentals and militia, commanded by Captain 
Stephen Betts. Putting this little band to speedy 
flight, he entered Norwalk without further oppo- 
sition. Having first been plundered, this thriv- 
ing village shared the fate of Fairfield. Six 
houses only escaped. Among the buildings de- 
stroyed were two churches. 

Acknowledging a loss in these incursions of 
twenty killed, ninety-six wounded, and thirty- 
two missing, Tryon sailed to Sag Harbour, on 
Long Island. Here he was preparing for a 
descent on New London, when recalled to New 
York by the unexpected intelligence that Wayne 
had stormed and carried the lately-captured 
fortress of Stony Point. 

While these events were transpiring, a formid- 



1779.] Sullivan's expedition. 231 

able expedition had been set on foot against the 
Senecas and other Indian tribes of New York 
in alliance with the English, to avenge upon 
them the barbarities they had committed during 
the previous summer, in their attacks on Wyo- 
ming and other frontier settlements. Leaving 
Tioga on the 26th of August, under the com- 
mand of General Sullivan, the expedition burned 
the Indian towns on the Chemung, defeated a 
large force of Tories and savages under Butler 
and Brant, laid waste the valley of the Gen- 
nessee, and finally compelling the offending 
tribes, together with the refugees they had 
sheltered, to seek a place of safety and of suc- 
cour from absolute want in the immediate vicinity 
of the English post at Niagara. The punish- 
ment thus inflicted on the savages was a severe 
one, and they never wholly recovered from the 
effects of it. 



232 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1780. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Campaign of 1780 — South Carolina invaded — Fall of Charles- 
ton — Defeat of Gates — Gloomy aspect of affairs — Arnold at 
Philadelphia — His quarrel with the Pennsylvania authorities 
— Tried by court-martial — Sentenced to a reprimand from 
the commander-in-chief — Washington's reprimand — Mortifi- 
cation of Arnold — His extravagance — Its result — Treason 
of Arnold — Execution of Andre — Arnold in Virginia — 
Campaign of 1781 — Greene in South Carolina — Cornwallis 
concentrates his troops at Yorktown — Arnold's attack on 
New London — Massacre of the garrison of Fort Griswold — 
New London burned — Surrender of Cornwallis — Subse- 
quent life of Arnold — His death at London. 

Abandoning Newport and the forts on the 
Hudson, the British gave up all present hope of 
subjugating the northern colonies. Leaving 
Knyphausen in command at New York, Sir 
Henry Clinton sailed with seven thousand troops 
to invade South Carolina. On the 7th of April, 
1780, he appeared before Charleston, the gar- 
rison of which, after gallantly sustaining a siege 
of more than a month's duration, reluctantly 
surrendered as prisoners of war. By the middle 
of June, all South Carolina was in the possession 
of the British. Leaving Cornwallis to maintain 
and enlarge his conquest, Clinton presently re- 
turned to New York. 

To recapture this important province, Gates 



1780.] ARNOLD IN PHILADELPHIA. 233 

was immediately despatched southward with a 
large army ; but, met by Cornwallis on the 16th 
of August, at Camden, he suffered a most disas- 
trous defeat. 

At the north, the aspect of affairs afforded 
scarcely any ground for cheerful hope. Frus- 
trated in various attempts to co-operate with a 
French fleet and army which arrived at Newport 
early in July, Washington could not contemplate 
the condition of things without a feeling of 
anxiety verging upon alarm. Adding still more 
to his grief at the gloomy prospect of his country, 
there now came to light a traitorous and dan- 
gerous plot, planned, and wellnigh executed, by 
an oiEcer upon whom, notwithstanding his evi- 
dent lack of moral principle, the commander-in- 
chief strongly relied, as being second to few in 
the army for personal bravery, military skill, 
and the brilliancy and worth of his previous 
services. 

Shortly after the evacuation of Philadelphia 
by Clinton, Arnold, whose wounds disqualified 
him for active service, was placed in command 
at that city. Here he soon entangled himself 
in a quarrel with the governor and council of 
Pennsylvania, who publicly censured his conduct 
as being ''in many respects oppressive, unworthy 
of his rank and station, discouraging to those 
who had manifested an attachment to the liber- 
ties of America, and disrespectful to the state." 

20^ 



234 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1780. 

Finally, after a series of disputes, Arnold was 
summoned before a court-martial, to answer four 
several charges, partly of a criminal nature, 
preferred by the civil authorities of Pennsyl- 
vania. His defence was artful and elaborate, 
though somewhat vainglorious in its tone. With 
sentiments of the most ardent patriotism it was 
full to redundancy ; and none who heard it 
could have supposed that its author had been 
for eight months in secret correspondence with 
the enemy. But with all its injudicious boasting 
and wordy patriotism, the defence of Arnold com- 
pletely disproved the two most serious charges, 
and he was acquitted of them. Found guilty on 
the two remaining counts, of irregular, impru- 
dent, and improper conduct, he was sentenced 
to be reprimanded by the commander-in-chief. 
This duty Washington performed with the utmost 
delicacy. " I reprimand you," — so he addressed 
Arnold — "for having forgotten that, in propor- 
tion as you had rendered yourself formidable to 
our enemies you should have shown moderation 
toward our citizens. Exhibit again those splendid 
qualities which have placed you in the rank of 
our most distinguished generals. As far as it 
shall be in my power, I will myself furnish you 
with opportunities for regaining the esteem 
which you have formerly enjoyed." 

Notwithstanding the soothing terms of this 
reprimand, Arnold's vanity was deeply wounded, 



1780.] arxold's embarrassments. 235 

and lie began to look around for some way to 
revenge himself. Before he could fix upon any 
definite plan, circumstances occurred which filled 
the cup of his mortification to overflowing. 

Living at Philadelphia in an extravagant 
style, utterly beyond his means, Arnold had in- 
volved himself in debt and difficulties, from 
which he struggled to extricate himself by en- 
gaging in commercial and other speculations, 
not decidedly wrong, perhaps, but in many in- 
stances depending for their success upon the 
discreditable arts of the unscrupulous trader. 
His losses, however, overbalanced his gains. 
Becoming more and more embarrassed, he re- 
petitioned Congress to allow his entire claims 
for moneys expended by him during the Canada 
expedition. A committee of that body reported 
that he had been already overpaid. 

Disappointed, mortified, and needy, Arnold 
applied to M. de la Luzerne, the French minis- 
ter, for a loan, intimating that it would be for 
the interest of the French king to secure his 
grateful attachment. Pained to find an officer, 
whose military qualities he admired, degrading 
himself so far as to solicit a bribe, Luzerne re- 
fused to give the money, but profi'ered his impa- 
tient listener much excellent advice. Abashed 
and indignant, Arnold hurried away, fixed in the 
determination to betray his country. Easily 
obtaining from Washington the command at 



236 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1780. 

West Point, he made a direct offer to Clinton, 
through Major Andrd of the British army, with 
whom, under an assumed name, he had long cor- 
responded, to surrender himself and the highly- 
important post intrusted to him, in such a man- 
ner as would be of great advantage to the cause 
of Great Britain. 

An interview between Arnold and some trust- 
worthy British agent being necessary to complete 
the traitorous plot, Andrd reluctantly volunteered 
to ascend the Hudson for that purpose in the Vul- 
ture sloop-of-war. Notwithstanding many ob- 
stacles, the desired interview took place at night 
in a thick wood on the river shore. Morning 
broke before the conspirators had arranged their 
plan of action. Andr^ was induced to enter 
within the American lines, where, concealed 
during the day, he and Arnold completed their 
arrangements. Unable to return on board the 
Vulture, Andr^, provided with a pass and guide 
by Arnold, assumed a citizen's dress, and at 
dusk set off on horseback down the river to New 
York. 

The next morning, having parted with his 
guide, he was stopped, while crossing a small 
brook half a mile north of Tarrytown, by three 
volunteer scouts ; deceived by whose replies, 
instead of producing Arnold's passport, he avow- 
ed himself to be a British officer, travelling on 
particular business. Ordered to dismount, Andr^ 



1780.] TREASON OF ARNOLD. 237 

too late discovered his error, and vainly endea- 
voured to purchase his liberty. Having stripped 
him, and found susj^icious papers concealed in 
his stockings, his captors carried him before 
Colonel Jamison, the American commandant at 
North Castle. Examining the papers, which 
contained a full description of West Point and 
a return of its forces, Jamison recognised the 
handwriting of Arnold ; but having no suspicion 
of his superior's fidelity, he penned a hasty note 
to Arnold, informing him of Andre's capture, 
and that several papers of a very dangerous ten- 
dency, found upon his person, had been forward- 
ed to Washington, then returning to West Point 
from Hartford. 

When Arnold received this letter, he was 
breakfasting with his family and two aids-de- 
camp of Washington, who had not yet arrived. 
What his feelings were on reading it can only 
be imagined ; for, with the exception of a slight 
momentary agitation, his deportment was cool 
and collected. Rising from the table, he pleaded 
pressing business for leaving so abruptly, ordered 
his horse to the door, and called his wife up 
stairs. In a few brief sentences he informed her 
that they must part, perhaps for ever, and that 
his life depended on his escape to the enemy. 
Leaving her in a swoon, he hurriedly mounted 
his horse, galloped to the river side, sprang into 
his barge, and ordered the oarsmen to pull with 



238 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1780. 

all speed down the stream. As they approached 
King's Ferry, he displayed a white handkerchief, 
as the signal of a flag-boat, and thus passed the 
American forts without molestation. The Vul- 
ture was now in sight, awaiting the return of 
Andrd. Safe on board this vessel, Arnold de- 
spatched a letter to Washington, soliciting pro- 
tection for his wife, who, he wrote, was " as good 
and as innocent as an angel, and incapable of 
doing wrong." 

For the fate of Andr^, the youthful, ingenuous, 
and accomplished partner of Arnold in his abor- 
tive plot, the profoundest pity was expressed, 
even by those whose cause he sought to ruin. 
Tried by a court-matial, his own frank relation 
of the part he took in the recent transaction 
procured his conviction as a spy ; and, as such, 
notwithstanding the untiring efforts of Clinton 
to save him, and the threats of Arnold to avenge 
his execution with fire and slaughter, he was 
hanged at Tappan, on the 2d of October. 

Rewarded with a gratuity of six thousand 
pounds and a commission as brigadier-general in 
the British army, Arnold was despatched in 
December, with sixteen hundred troops, on a 
plundering expedition into Virginia. Kobberies 
and conflagrations, and the wanton destruction 
of private property, everywhere attended his 
steps. On one occasion an American captain 
of militia was taken prisoner. Curious to know 



1780.] ARNOLD IN VIRGINIA. 239 

the feelings of his countrymen with regard to 
him, Arnold asked this officer what he thought 
the Americans would do with him if he should 
ever be captured by them. '' They will cut off 
the leg," he responded, ''which w^as wounded 
when you were fighting for the cause of liberty, 
and bury it with the honours of war, and hang 
the rest of your body on a gibbet." 

After remaining in Virginia nearly four months, 
during which time several unsuccessful attempts 
were made to capture him, Arnold returned to 
New York in April, 1781. 

Meanwhile, farther south, the belligerent 
forces had been actively engaged from an early 
period in the year. Here it is unnecessary per- 
haps to relate in detail the various events of 
the campaign. Suffice it to say that Greene, 
the successor of Gates, after experiencing vari- 
ous reverses and triumphs, at length succeeded 
in freeing the greater part of South Carolina 
from the enemy's presence ; while Cornwallis, 
his opponent, forcing his way northward, finally, 
in obedience to the directions of Clinton, con- 
centrated his army, eight thousand strong, in a 
favourable position on the peninsulas of York 
and Gloucester in Virginia. 

Washington in the mean time had planned an 
attack on New York, in conjunction with the 
French troops still at Newport. But a large 
fleet arriving in the Chesapeake from France, 



240 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1780. 

he at once quietly directed his operations to the 
investment of Cornwallis. 

Penetrating Washington's design, Clinton en- 
deavoured to interrupt it by a diversion at the 
north. With this view, early in September he 
despatched Arnold, ^Yith an adequate force, to 
destroy New London, where public stores and 
private property to a large amount were collect- 
ed. Crossing from Long Island, Arnold landed 
his troops in two divisions at the entrance to the 
harbour. 

On the eastern side of New London harbour 
there rises a lofty and precipitous hill. On the 
summit of this eminence was Fort Griswold. 
Illy adapted to repel a land attack, it was gar- 
risoned by but one hundred and eighty men, 
under the command of Colonel Ledyard. Against 
this work one division of the enemy marched, 
while the other, led by Arnold, proceeded to 
New London. After a brief but sanguinary con- 
flict, in which the assailants lost two hundred of 
their number. Fort Griswold was carried at the 
point of the bayonet. When all resistance had 
ceased, the leader of the British inquired, "Who 
commands this fort?" Advancing and present- 
ing his sword, ''I did," replied Ledyard, "but 
you do now." Seizing the proffered weapon, 
Ledyard's brutal captor immediately plunged it 
into his breast. Incited by the example of their 
commander, the British soldiers fell upon the 



1780.] ARNOLD AT NEW LONDON. 241 

defenceless and unresisting garrison, and slew 
sixty of them in cold blood. Of the wounded 
Americans, many were thrown into a cart, which 
was then turned loose down the hill. Near the 
bottom it ran against a tree. By the violence 
of the shock, several of the wretched inmates 
were killed, while painful bruises and contusions 
were superadded to the wounds of all. After 
this exploit, the victors, having laid a train of 
powder from the magazine to the gate of the 
fort, fired it, and retreated hastily to their ship- 
ping. But the looked-for explosion did not fol- 
low. One of the garrison, who had received a 
mortal wound, having witnessed the laying of 
the train, exerted his expiring strength to crawl 
to it. Throwing his body across it, he steeped 
the powder in his life-blood, thus preserving 
many of his more fortunate comrades, whose 
wounds were slighter than his own. 

Proceeding meanwhile to New London, Arnold 
had laid that flourishing town in ashes. " It has 
been said," writes his historian. Sparks, "that 
Arnold, while New London was in flames, stood 
in the belfry of a steeple, and witnessed the con- 
flagration. And what adds to the enormity is, 
that he was almost in sight of the spot where he 
drew his first breath ; that every object around 
was associated with the years of his childhood 
and youth, and revived those images of the past 
which kindle emotions of tenderness in all but 

21 



242 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1780. 

hearts of stone ; that many of the dying, whose 
groans assailed his ears, and of the living, whose 
houses and effects he saw devoured by the flames, 
were his early friends, the friends of his father, 
his mother, his family." 

Toward evening the neighbouring militia be- 
gan to assemble in force. Knowing their spirit, 
Arnold did not venture to await an attack from 
them ; but, gathering up what valuables he could, 
withdrew precipitately to the landing-place, and 
re-embarked for New York. 

The burning of New London was the last ex- 
ploit of Arnold in the country of his birth. Ap- 
parently unheeding it, Washington steadily con- 
tinued his operations against Cornwallis, who 
was finally compelled to surrender to the allied 
forces of America and France, at Yorktown, on 
the 17th of October. 

Foreseeing that the war was about to close, 
Arnold, having obtained leave from Clinton, 
sailed in the following December for England. 
His subsequent life, though prolonged a score 
of years, was one marked by little worthy of 
notice. Almost all that we know of it is, that 
he entered largely into commercial speculations, 
and grew rich, but not less offensively ostenta- 
tious and overbearing in his general deportment, 
nor more honest and upright in his business 
transactions. Treated with uniform contempt 
by such of his countrymen as came into contact 



1781.] NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. 243 

with him, and frequently slighted and insulted 
by the officers of that nation which had sought 
to profit by his defection, he resided at London 
for several years, and there died, on the 14th 
of June, 1801, in the sixty-second year of his 
age. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Negotiations for peace — Settlement of the jurisdiction dispute 
between Connecticut and Pennsylvania — Dissatisfaction of 
the Wyoming colonists — Peace — Condition of the country 
— Slavery abolished in Connecticut — Griswold and Hun- 
tingdon governors — Cession of public lands — Connecticut 
reserve sold — Permanent common-school fund established — 
Proposed federal impost — New York refuses to sanction it 
■ — National convention recommended — Meeting of the con- 
vention — Character of the delegates — Roger Sherman — 
Proceedings of the convention — Struggle between the larger 
and smaller states — Sherman procures a committee of con 
ference — Frankhn's proposition — Northern and southern 
parties — Connecticut delegates act as compromisers — New 
difficulties between the north and south — Third great com- 
promise of the constitution — Constitution signed — Gloomy 
presentiments. 

The capture of Cornwallis was the last im- 
portant conflict of the Revolution. Though in 
certain sections of the country a few partisan 
corps continued for some time to wage a desultory 
warfare, the prospect of a favourable peace grew 
subsequently every day brighter and more dis- 



244 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1783. 

tinct. At length, during the summer of 1782, 
negotiations were entered into by the American 
and English commissioners, with a view to the 
final adjustment of difficulties. 

While these negotiations were pending, the 
dispute which had so long existed between Con- 
necticut and Pennsylvania as to the jurisdiction 
of the Wyoming Valley, was referred to a federal 
court, composed of five commissioners, who met 
at Trenton, in New Jersey, in November, 1782. 
After a five weeks' careful examination of the 
arguments of both the interested parties, the 
court decided in favour of Pennsylvania. Pre- 
sently confirmed by Congress, this decision was 
cheerfully acquiesced in by Connecticut. So far 
as it concerned that state, the controversy was 
now settled. But the subsequent claim of Penn- 
sylvania to the ownership as well as to the juris- 
diction of the Wyoming territory, excited general 
dissatisfaction among the Connecticut immi- 
grants, and was sternly resisted, even to the 
shedding of blood. Many years of expensive 
litigation followed; and it was not until time had 
considerably modified the sectional feelings with 
which the dispute was originally imbittered, that 
a satisfactory settlement of it was at length ob- 
tained. 

On the 3d of September, 1783, the entire in- 
dependence of the confederated states of North 
America was finally secured by the ratification 



1785.] IMPORTATION OF SLAVES PROHIBITED. 245 

of definitive treaties between France, England, 
and America. 

Peace, that was thus guaranteed, found the 
disenthralled colonies labouring under a heavy 
load of debt. Nor was this the only evil with 
which they were soon to contend. There were 
reflecting persons who foresaw that a brief period 
only could elapse before perplexing questions of 
state and national policy would of necessity 
arise and agitate deeply, if not fatally, the 
union of young republics. Yet, in the first out- 
burst of rejoicing created by the tidings of peace, 
and the recognition of our political independence, 
these forebodings, based upon an intelligent ob- 
servation of the embarrassed condition of the 
country, were confined to the breasts of a few. 

One of the earliest steps of Connecticut after 
the termination of the war, was to enact a law 
prohibiting the further importation of slaves, 
and declaring that all persons thereafter born 
within her limits should be free. The same year 
— 1784, the aged and patriotic Trumbull was 
succeeded as governor by Matthew Griswold, 
who, in 1785, was replaced by Samuel Hunting- 
don, for the next eleven years the chief executive 
of the state. 

By this time the embarrassments of the con- 
federacy, and the incompleteness of the funda- 
mental articles of the federal union, were becom- 
ing painfully evident. Already measures had 

21* 



246 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1786. 

been adopted to free the nation from debt ; pro- 
minent among which was the cession to the 
general government by the states of their respec- 
tive shares of vacant lands in the West. Diffi- 
culties were at first experienced in obtaining the 
consent of the states to such a relinquishment ; 
but, incited by the magnanimity of Virginia, the 
rest at length assented to the measure. Con- 
necticut, the last to adopt it, insisted upon re- 
taining certain lands, in what is now a portion 
of the State of Ohio. Hesitating a little. Con- 
gress, at length, in 1786, consented to accept 
the cession of Connecticut, notwithstanding the 
reservation which she claimed. 

The lands thus secured to the state, under the 
title of the " Connecticut Reserve," were pre- 
sently sold, jurisdiction and all, to a company 
of speculators, for the sum of one million two 
hundred thousand dollars. Previously, however, 
five thousand acres had been granted to such 
persons as had suffered from the depredations 
of the British during the War of Independence. 
The proceeds of the sale, after some discussion, 
were appropriated to the establishment of a per- 
manent common-school fund. 

As another means of reducing the burden of 
public debt. Congress proposed that the several 
states should confer upon it the privilege of lay- 
ing a moderate impost duty on certain articles. 
The consent of all the states being necessary to 



1787.] CONVENTION AT PHILADELPHIA. 247 

sanction this desirable measure, it was defeated 
by the non-concurrence of New York alone. 
Much ill-feeling of a sectional character was 
excited in consequence; whioh, together with 
violent outbreaks in Massachusetts, and a grow- 
ing disposition to favour the idea of a division 
of the confederacy into two or three independent 
commonwealths, at length rendered it plain to 
the mass of the community that some modifica- 
tion, or complete reorganization, of the federal 
compact was absolutely necessary. 

With this object in view, commissioners from 
six states assembled at Annapolis, Maryland, in 
September, 1786 ; but having no competent au- 
thority to act as the emergency required, after 
recommending a convention of delegates from 
all the states to meet at Philadelphia in the fol- 
lowing May, they resolved to adjourn. 

After some hesitation, this recommendation 
was approved and sanctioned by Congress, and 
eleven states appointed delegates to the conven- 
tion. Organizing on the 2^th of May, 1787, 
the convention elected Washington president, 
and commenced its proceedings with closed doors 
and an injunction of secrecy on the debates. 

Fifty delegates were present — all men of tried 
patriotism, and eminent for abilities, experience, 
and character. From Connecticut came the 
venerable Roger Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, and 
William S. Johnson ; the former of whom, origi- 



248 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1787. 

nallj a poor shoemaker, had worked his way to 
distinction as a lawyer and legislator, and ac- 
quired an extensive reputation for sound judg- 
ment and practical knowledge. 

After some debate as to the powers of the 
convention, two questions arose in relation to 
the ratio of representation and the rule of voting 
in the national legislature. Ey the existing 
articles of confederation each state was allowed 
one vote in Congress, and no more. This equality 
the smaller states desired to maintain. The 
larger ones, on the contrary, were determined to 
obtain that legislative preponderance to which 
the numerical superiority of their inhabitants 
was thought to entitle them. The subject having 
been warmly discussed, the rule of representa- 
tion by population was at length carried against 
the small states, Connecticut included, by the 
slender majority of one. 

The mode of electing the members of the first 
branch of the national legislature was next con- 
sidered. It was proposed that it should be by 
popular vote. To this proposition Sherman 
objected. The late outbreaks in Massachusetts, 
probably, prompted him to declare that «'the 
less the people had to do immediately with the 
government the better." Madison, of Virginia, 
and others, replied, <' that no republican govern- 
ment could stand without popular confidence, 
which could only be secured by giving the peo- 



1787.] PROCEEDINGS OF CONVENTION. 249 

pie one branch of the legislature." On the 
question being put, the election by the people 
was carried ; two states only against it, and two 
— Connecticut and Delaware — divided. 

How senators should be elected was the next 
question. Insisting upon their being chosen by 
the local legislatures, the smaller states, after 
some discussion, gained their point; but the pro- 
posal, by them deemed vitally important, for an 
equality of representation in the senate, was 
voted down. 

It having been decided — Connecticut voting 
affirmatively — that the chief executive should 
consist of one person, the question arose as to 
the mode of that individual's election. Wilson 
of Virginia hesitatingly proposed that it should 
be by the people. Sherman suggested, by the 
national legislature. Wilson then proposed a 
college of electors, chosen by the popular vote. 
Finally, however, Sherman's plan was adopted. 
In fixing the term of office, Sherman advocated 
three years, with the privilege of re-election. 
Mason, of Virginia, suggested seven years and 
no re-election, which was at length carried, Con- 
necticut voting with the minority. 

Having been otherwise slightly modified, the 
Virginia Plan, as it was called, was reported 
back to the house. 

Meanwhile, the smaller states had matured a 
counter scheme, known as the Jersey or State 



ZOU HIiSTOKY OF COJyNECTlUUT. j_i < O < 



Rights' Plan, wliicli was now brought forward 
by Patterson, of New Jersey. This, and the one 
just reported, were referred to a new committee 
of the whole, by which the entire question was 
again considered. 

After an exciting debate, in which the Con- 
necticut delegates took part as peacemakers, 
Paterson's scheme was thrown out and the Vir- 
ginia plan again reported to the house. 

The discussion now grew alarmingly stormy. 
Failing to obtain equality of representation in 
the lower branch of Congress, the State Rights' 
members demanded it in the senate. Ellsworth's 
proposal to concede it to them, as a fair compro- 
mise between the large and small states, having 
been lost by a tie vote, the dissatisfaction of the 
losing party rose so high that an angry dissolu- 
tion of the convention seemed inevitable. At 
this juncture, on motion by Sherman, a commit- 
tee of conference was appointed, consisting of 
one member from each state. 

In this committee, Franklin proposed that, 
while in the senate the states should be equally 
represented, in the lower branch there should 
be one representative for every forty thousand 
persons. Reluctantly acquiesced in by the mem- 
bers from the larger states, this proposition was 
reported to the convention. A triumph to the 
State Rights' men, and a mortification to their 
more zealous opponents, it gave rise to a warm 



1787.] NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN PARTIES. 251 

debate, which however was momentarily quieted 
by the consideration of another question relative 
to the rule of apportionment. 

In the protracted and exciting debate that 
now arose, the existence of a northern and a 
southern party was developed, the questions at 

i issue being, Whether there should be a slave re- 
presentation ? and, if so, How should it be appor- 
tioned ? Motions were made and voted down to 

j count blacks equally with whites, and to reckon, 
in a periodical census, by which future appor- 

! tionments should be regulated, the whole number 
of freemen and three-fifths of all others. 

I ■ Davie, of North Carolina, now rose and de- 
clared, "it was time to speak out. He was sure 
North Carolina would never confederate on any 
terms that did not rate the blacks at least as 
three-fifths. If the eastern states meant to 
exclude them altogether, the business was at an 
end." 

Hereupon the Connecticut delegates stepped 
in as compromisers. After some debate, their 
efforts proved successful. A motion was finally 
carried, to apportion representatives and direct 
taxes among the states according to their free 

. populations ; in determining which, five slaves 
were to be counted as three freemen. 

The question now arising on accepting the 
reference committee's report, as thus modified, 
an attempt was made to do away with that part 



252 HISTORY OF CONXECTICUT. [1787. 

of it which gave the states an equal representa- 
tion in the national senate. Ably argued against 
by Ellsworth and Sherman, this proposition was 
voted down, and the report subsequently adopt- 
ed, Connecticut voting with the majority. 

Mortified by this result, the delegates from 
the larger states, having carried an adjournment, 
met in consultation. Some few were for seceding, 
and framing a separate constitution ; but the 
suggestion met with little favour, and nothing 
could be agreed upon. The next day the ques- 
tion was set at rest by the failure of a motion to 
reconsider, and the convention proceeded with, 
and, after two warm debates, finished its consi- 
deration of the report of the committee of the 
whole. 

The amended report was now referred to a 
committee of detail, which, ten days subse- 
quently, reported a rough draught of the present 
constitution. 

In the federal plan as now reported, there 
appeared several new provisions, which gave rise 
to much excitement and feeling in the conven- 
tion. The most important of these forbade the 
national legislature to impose export duties ; to 
prohibit the importation of slaves ; and to pass 
any navigation act, unless by a two-thirds vote. 

These provisions again arrayed the North and 
South in opposition. The eastern ship-owning 
states were extremely desirous that Congress 



1787.] THIRD GREAT COMPROMISE. 253 

should have unrestricted power to enact naviga- 
tion laws, to which the southern exporting states 
were decidedly hostile. By the northern dele- 
gates, export duties were viewed as an equitable 
and necessary source of revenue; while those 
from the south, where exporting was carried on 
largely, regarded them as oppressive, and in- 
jurious to the interests of the people they repre- 
sented. The provision forbidding Congress to 
prohibit the importation of slaves, though against 
the sentiment of most of the states, had been 
reluctantly conceded in the committee to Georgia 
and South Carolina, the delegates from which 
intimated that those states neither could nor 
would confederate without it. 

During the heated and exciting debate that 
arose upon the report of the committee, it be- 
came evident that, unless some amicable settle- 
ment were made, the convention could not satis- 
factorily conclude its important labours. Again 
the Connecticut delegates stepped forward to 
harmonize conflicting interests. As before, their 
efforts were successful, and the third great com- 
promise of the constitution was effected. The 
first two were the concession to the smaller states 
of an equal representation in the senate, and to 
the slaveholders the counting three-fifths of the 
slaves in determining the ratio of representation. 
By this, the third, the unrestricted power of 
Congress to enact navigation laws was conceded 

22 



254 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1787. 

to the northern shipping interest, and to the 
Carolina rice-planters, as an equivalent, twenty 
years' continuance of the slave trade ; while the 
entire South was conciliated by the retention of 
the provision forbidding the national legislature 
to impose duties on exports. 

Some few other amendments having been sub- 
sequently adopted, the revised constitution was 
engrossed, and again brought into the conven- 
tion, wdiere it received the signatures of all pre- 
sent, except three. Few of those who signed 
expressed their satisfaction with the instrument 
as a whole ; and it was only through the persua- 
sions of Washington, Franklin, and others, that 
many of the reluctant members were induced to 
affix their signatures. Even when they gave it 
the sanction of their names, they did so with 
gloomy presentiments of future discord and 
anarchy, and the ultimate ruin of the confede- 
ration. 



1788.] CONSTITUTION RATIFIED. 255 



CHAPTER XX. 

Ratification of the constitution by Connecticut — Federal and 
Republican parties — Political complexion of Connecticut — 
Amendments of the constitution adopted — Washington 
elected president — New partisan differences — Contest be- 
tween the administration and Genet — Public sentiment in 
Connecticut — Governors Wolcott and Trumbull — Difficul- 
ties with France — Alien and sedition acts — Fall of the Fe- 
deralists — Foreign relations of the United States — British 
orders in council — Berlin and Milan decrees — Effect of these 
measures — ^Assumptions of Great Britain — Adoption of the 
embargo — Denounced by the New England states — Address 
of Governor Trumbull — Action of the legislature — Repeal 
of the embargo — Continued aggressions of England — 'Decla- 
ration of war. 

Submitted to Congress, the new constitution 
was hesitatingly transmitted by that body to the 
local legislatures, with a recommendation that 
state conventions of delegates, chosen by the 
people, should be called to decide upon its adop- 
tion or disapproval. To render it the fundamen- 
tal law of the confederacy, the assent of nine 
states was required. 

The fifth to do so, the Connecticut convention 
ratified the new constitution by a vote of one 
hundred and twenty-eight to forty, on the 9th 
of January, 1788. 

On the question of ratifying or rejecting the 



256 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1789. 

recently created compact, the whole people of 
the United States had been suddenly arranged, 
for the first time, into two definite and well- 
marked political parties. That friendly to the 
constitution styled itself the Federal party; the 
members of the opposing division presently as- 
sumed the name of Republicans. Their chief 
objections to the constitution were, that it was 
too centralizing, or national — not really federal ; 
and that it contained no bill of rights, without 
which there could be little security for personal 
liberty. 

In Connecticut, as well as in most of the states 
whose delegates had advocated the state rights' 
view in opposition to a national plan of govern- 
ment, the mass of the people at once sided with 
the Federalists. An equality of representation 
in the upper branch of Congress had been gua- 
rantied to them, and they were content. But 
in Virginia and New York the Republicans held 
an undoubted majority ; and it was not until 
nine states had ratified the constitution, that 
they reluctantly yielded their assent to it. Sub- 
sequently they proposed the calling of a second 
national convention ; but certain amendments 
to the constitution having been adopted by the 
Congress of 1789, this proposal was not agreed 
to by any other state. 

In the mean time, Washington had been 
elected to the presidency. Though no partisan, 



1793.] GENET CONTROVERSY. 257 

that great and good man was known to be a 
friend of the new federal compact. Influenced 
by his avowed predilections, the mass of the 
people soon began to regard it with favour. It 
was no longer a partisan measure. But new 
questions, both of foreign and domestic policy, 
were not long in arising to excite again the 
flames of political animosity. 

Shortly subsequent to Washington's second 
inauguration, in 1793, citizen Genet arrived in 
the United States as ambassador from France. 
That country, emerging from a sanguinary revo- 
lution, had just proclaimed itself a republic, and 
declared war upon England. According to a 
treaty concluded with the royal government, 
" French privateers and their prizes were entitled 
to shelter in American ports — a shelter not to be 
extended to the enemies of France." In the 
cabinet of Washington there were wise states- 
men who deemed this treaty no longer binding. 
Other members, however, were of the contrary 
opinion. Yet all agreed that, whether binding 
or not, its conditions could not be fulfilled with- 
out plunging the country into an expensive war 
between two foreign nations, whose respective 
interests alone were at stake. Such a war the 
administration determined to avoid ; and, sus- 
tained by the Federalists, Washington issued a 
proclamation of strict neutrality. Soon after- 
ward the federal authorities seized a number of 

22* 



258 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1794. 

French privateers, which, in defiance of the 
president's proclamation, were fitting out in 
American ports. Against these seizures the new 
ambassador from France, encouraged by the 
French or Democratic wing of the Republicans, 
protested in intemperate language, bitterly de- 
nouncing the prudent policy of Washington. 
For a time the contest raged fiercely, and even 
doubtfully. Flushed with the prospect of finally 
triumphing over the executive. Genet at length 
became intolerably insolent. The administra- 
tion insisted upon his recall. This demand 
being complied with early in 1794, the excite- 
ment which had been created partially subsided. 
Nowhere in the United States had Washing- 
ton warmer or more steady friends than in Con- 
necticut. In the contest just alluded to, the 
people of that state, almost to a man, adhered 
to and supported his views. It is recorded with 
evident pride by a local historian — Dwight — 
that, "when citizen Genet approached Con- 
necticut, although preceded by accounts of the 
favour and success he had met in other places, 
he found the feelings of the people so different 
from what he wished, and his enterprise" — a 
sort of an electioneering tour, against the presi- 
dent — "was treated with so much irony and 
ridicule by some of the literary men of Hartford, 
that he turned back, without crossing the bound- 
ary, and gave up all attempts in New England." 



1798.] ALIEX AND SEDITION ACTS. 259 

In 1796, Oliver Wolcott, senior, was elected 
to the chief magistracy of Connecticut. Two 
years afterward, Wolcott was succeeded by 
Jonathan Trumbull, son of the former governor 
of that name. 

Meanwhile, the national government had been 
subjected to many insults and injuries by the 
new and illy-regulated French republic. At 
length, during the administration of Washing- 
ton's successor, the elder Adams, whose repeated 
efforts to obtain redress were utterly unavailing, 
a war with France appeared inevitable. It was 
at this crisis that the celebrated alien and sedi- 
tion acts were passed, for the avowed purpose of 
protecting the administration from its external 
foes, the French, and from its internal enemies, 
the Democratic sympathizers with France. By 
these acts authority was given the president to 
order out of the country such aliens as he might 
deem dangerous to its peace and safety ; to ap- 
prehend, secure, or remove all resident aliens, 
natives or citizens of hostile nations, and to sus- 
tain prosecution in the judicial courts for such 
publications as might be considered libellous on 
the federal government. It needed but a few 
cases of prosecution, under the sanction of the 
sedition act, to kindle a fierce flame of opposition 
to these arbitrary laws. The party with which 
they originated almost immediately fell, never 
to rise again as a great national organization. 



260 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1800. 

In 1800, only two years after their enactment, 
Thomas Jefferson, the candidate of the Republi- 
cans, or Democrats, was elected over Mr. Adams 
to the presidency. In Connecticut, however, the 
people "stood firm for Federalism and steady' 
habits," as they likewise did in the succeeding 
presidential campaign, when Jefferson was chosen 
for a second term. 

During the progress of the sanguinary war 
waged by the allied sovereigns of Europe against 
Napoleon, the Americans, as neutrals, were ra- 
pidly acquiring commercial importance by the 
great extension of the carrying trade. To destroy 
this profitable trade, the English government 
issued a formal order in council, suppressing all 
commercial relations between France and the 
United States. Imitating his more powerful 
maritime rival, Napoleon soon afterward issued 
his famous Berlin and Milan decrees, rendering 
American vessels trading to England liable to 
capture and confiscation. 

The measures thus adopted by the two govern- 
ments were, perhaps, equally detrimental to our 
commerce; but England had set the first ex- 
ample, and the indignation of a majority of the 
American people, including the administration 
party, was almost wholly directed against her. 
The Federalists, on the other hand, denounced 
France as being the most blameworthy. Both 
countries, however, received the repeated pro- 



1807.] ADOPTION OF THE EMBARGO. 261 

tests of the United States with cool and insult- 
ing indifference. 

Yet with England there were other and 
weighty causes of quarrel. Among these were 
certain pretended rights of search and of im- 
pressment, which, at this period, the British 
government claimed and attempted to enforce, 
greatly to the injury of our seamen, native-born 
as well as adopted citizens. The ill-feeling thus 
drawn upon England was still further excited 
by the wanton attack made by one of her crui- 
sers, the Leopard, upon the American frigate 
Chesapeake, under the pretence of recovering a 
few seamen claimed as deserters from the British 
navy. 

Hoping to force both England and France 
into the adoption of a more liberal policy, Con- 
gress, in 1807, on the recommendation of Mr. 
Jefferson, passed an act prohibiting the departure, 
unless by special direction of the president, of 
any vessel from any port of the United States 
bound to any foreign country. All registered 
vessels which, during the operation of the em- 
bargo, might engage in the coasting trade, were- 
to give heavy bonds to reland their cargoes within 
the United States. 

Opposed by the Federalists, as being likely to 
affect the interests of the country more injuri- 
ously than the measures it was intended to reta- 
liate, the embargo act was received in the New 



262 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1809. 

England commercial states with bitter denuncia- 
tions. As the pressure of it began to be more 
and more felt, the contrivances to evade it grew 
more and more ingenious, daring, and effectual. 
To prevent these evasions, the "Enforcing Act" 
was passed by the general government in Janu- 
ary, 1809. 

To carry out the restrictive provisions of this 
act, the president called upon Governor Trum- 
bull, of Connecticut, to designate special officers 
of militia, on whom the collectors of customs 
might rely for aid. Not knowing, as he said, 
of any authority under which such appointments 
could be made, Trumbull declined complying 
with the president's requisition, and summoned 
a meeting of the legislature. In his opening 
address to that body, he took the ground that, 
on emergencies of the present character, when, 
as he said, the national legislature had over- 
stepped its constitutional limits of authority, it 
became the right and duty of the state legisla- 
tures to interpose their protection between the 
assumed power of the general government and 
the rights and liberties of the people. 

Acting upon suggestions contained in the 
governor's address, the legislature presently 
adopted a memorial to Congress against the 
embargo. Resolutions were also passed, in 
which, while the Enforcing Act was denounced 
as unconstitutional and binding upon none, such 



1810.] NON-INTERCOURSE ACT. 263 

persons as suffered by its operation were exhort- 
ed to make no forcible resistance to it, but to 
resort to the more peaceful remedies provided bj 
the laws of the state. 

Already, however, alarmed by the feeling 
manifested in New England, and moved also 
by the evident distress occasioned there by the 
various embargo measures, a number of Demo- 
cratic members had joined with the Federal op- 
position in Congress, and procured the repeal 
of the obnoxious acts, in February, 1809 — less 
than a month after the passage of the Enforcing 
Bill. 

In the following July, the less stringent act 
of non-intercourse, as to France and Great Bri- 
tain, was adopted by the national legislature. 
But finding this measure almost as injurious to 
the commercial interest of New England as the 
embargo had been, and quite as ineffectual as 
that act in inducing the French and English 
governments to adopt a just and more liberal 
policy, Congress finally, in 1810, removed its 
restrictions upon commercial pursuits, and yield- 
ed to the merchants and seamen their point of 
being left to their own risk and discretion. 

Our commerce, however, still remained subject 
to the caprices and injustice of England and 
France. For two years longer the general go- 
vernment vainly endeavoured by amicable nego- 
tiation to effect some favourable change in the 



264 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1812. 

conduct of those two nations. France, it is 
true, gave some little evidence of a desire to 
adopt 'a better policy ; but England grew every 
day more insolent in her demands and aggres- 
sive in action. Having, at length, uselessly 
<< exhausted remonstrances and expostulations," 
and finding that hostilities could no longer be 
avoided with honour, the United States, in Con- 
gress assembled, declared war against Great 
Britain, on the 18th of June, 1812. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



New England peace party — Contest between the executives 
of Connecticut and the United States — Governor Griswold 
refuses to yield the command of the militia to officers of the 
regular service — General Assembly approves his course — 
Law for a provisional army in Connecticut — Federal tri- 
umphs — John Cotton Smith, governor — Progress of the war 
— Captain Isaac Hull — Militia called out to defend the 
United States ships of war — Report of a joint committee of 
the Assembly against withdrawing the regular troops from 
the seaboard — Peace party losing strength — Origin of the 
term "blue-light federalist" — Shipping destroyed at Say- 
brook — British repulsed in an attack on Stonington — Con- 
scription and minor enlistment bills — Denounced by the 
Connecticut assembly — Hartford Convention called — Meet- 
ing of the convention — Outline of its report — State law 
relative to the enlistment of minors — Peace. 

A FEW days subsequent to the declaration of 
war, Major-General Dearborn, of the regular 
service, by authority of the president, called 



1813.] MILITIA DISPUTE. 265 

upon Governor Griswolcl, of Connecticut, for 
certain detachments of the state militia. With 
this requisition Griswold declared that he could 
not comply without violating his duty. In his 
opinion there was no constitutional emergency 
demanding the services of the militia, they not 
being needed " to execute the laws of the Union, 
to suppress insurrections, or to repel invasions." 
Approving of the governor's course, the Con- 
necticut council, which presently met, took 
further exception to Dearborn's requisition, be- 
cause it contemplated the placing of the troops 
under United States officers — clearly, they con- 
tended, a disposal of them not sanctioned by the 
constitution. Viewing the governor "as of right 
the commander-in-chief of the militia," they 
could not permit them "thus to be withdrawn 
from his authority." 

Backed by a letter from the president to the 
executive of Connecticut, declaring that "the 
danger of invasion actually existed," Dearborn 
reiterated his call for detachments of the state 
troops, still insisting that they should be under 
the command of officers belonging to the regular 
service. While they " believed that the militia 
of the state would be among the first to perform 
their constitutional duties, and not among the 
last to understand and appreciate their con- 
stitutional rights," the council yet declared that, 
"if Congress have seen fit to proclaim war be- 

23 



266 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1813. 

fore they have carried into effect another provi- 
sion of the constitution, to raise and support 
armies, it does not follow that the militia are 
bound to enter their forts and garrisons to per- 
form ordinary garrison duty, and wait for an 
invasion which may never happen." <'It is 
surely important," they continued, <'that the 
constitution and sovereignty of this state should 
not be impaired or encroached upon ; that the 
powers delegated to the United States may be 
exercised, and the powers ' reserved to the states 
respectively' may be retained." Therefore, it 
was their advice to the governor, '<• to retain the 
militia of the state under his own command." 

Against these doctrines, and against the 
course which the executive of Connecticut was 
thus encouraged to pursue, a great outcry was 
raised by the administration party throughout 
the country. That clamour rose to a still higher 
key when, in October, the general assembly, on 
the governor's recommendation, and for the pur- 
pose of providing for the defence of the state by 
some method, less expensive and vexatious than 
detachments of militia, passed a law for raising 
a provisional army of twenty-six hundred men, 
of which David Humphreys, formerly United 
States minister to Spain, was named commander. 
Resolutions were adopted during the same ses- 
sion, approving the governor's conduct in the 
militia dispute, and declaring, in the belief of the 



1813.] NAVAL VICTORIES. 267 

assembly, "that it was the deliberate and solemn 
sense of the people of the state that the war was 
unnecessary." 

The state elections taking place soon after, 
gave conclusive evidence that the "sense" of the 
people had been rightly judged. Of the one 
hundred and ninety-nine representatives chosen, 
no less than one hundred and sixty-three were 
members of the Federal or peace party. Go- 
vernor Griswold, having died a short time pre- 
viously, was succeeded in the executive office by 
John Cotton Smith. 

Meanwhile a series of disasters had befallen 
the attempts of the American land forces to 
enter Canada, which had been made the chief 
point of attack. Happily, the dispiriting effect 
of these disasters was more than counteracted 
by successes on the ocean. On the 19th of Au- 
gust, the United States ship Constitution, com- 
manded by Captain Isaac Hull, of Connecticut, 
captured the British frigate Guerriere, after a 
close fight of thirty minutes duration. This was 
the first of a series of naval victories that, for 
nearly a year, was uninterrupted by a single 
defeat. On the 1st of June, 1813, however, the 
Chesapeake, commanded by the heroic Lawrence, 
fell a prize to the British frigate Shannon. 

A few days after this first naval defeat, the 
American ships United States, Macedonian, and 
Hornet, while passing seaward through Long 



268 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1813. 

Island Sound, were intercepted by a British 
squadron under Sir Thomas Hardy, and obliged 
to take refuge in New London harbour. To 
defend these vessels and the town of New Lon- 
don, upon which an attack by the enemy was 
apprehended, Governor Smith issued a call for 
the militia, who accordingly assembled in consi- 
derable force and with commendable alacrity. 
The alarm along the seaboard was great ; but, 
beyond a strict blockade of the harbour, from 
which the American fleet found every effort to 
escape unavailing, the British did little of im- 
portance. 

A vast deal of dissatisfaction was felt, how- 
ever by the people of Connecticut on this occa- 
sion, which afterward found expression in the 
report of a joint committee of the assembly. 
Disapproving of the general plan of warfare 
adopted by the administration, " the inhabitants 
of the seaboard," continued the report, ''have 
an undoubted and imperative right to such pro- 
tection as the government can provide ; instead 
of which, the regular forces have been almost 
without exception ordered to the interior of the 
country, in pursuit of conquests which, if achiev- 
ed, will probably produce no solid benefit to the 
nation, while the seaboard is left exposed to the 
multiplied horrors usually produced by an in- 
vading and exasperated enemy." 

Meanwhile, the prostrating efi"ects of the war 



1813.] CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR. 269 

upon New England had begun to be in some 
measure counteracted. While the agriculturalist 
found occasion for satisfaction in the increased 
demand and higher prices obtained for his pro- 
ducts, the shipowner, engaging in the hazardous 
but still lucrative occupation of privateering, 
almost ceased to regard his loss of foreign com- 
merce as a serious drawback. A new and rapidly 
rising interest had also sprung up in the various 
domestic manufactures, which the stoppage of 
English importations — a consequence of the war 
— tended greatly to foster and encourage. Op- 
posed by these various interests, the peace party 
of New England began to manifest some loss of 
streno-th — even in Connecticut, where the new 
manufactures had been extensively engaged m. 

From an early period in the war, the eastern 
seaboard of the United States, New England 
for a while excepted, had been closely blockaded 
by the enemy's fleets. This exception of New 
England could not but attract observation ; and 
by the ultra Democrats it had been, while it ex- 
isted, attributed to a collusion between the Fe- 
deralists and the British. Of such a collusion 
they found additional proof, as they deemed it, 
in an incident that occurred at New London, late 
in the year. 

In his vexation at being baffled in every at- 
tempt to get to sea. Commodore Decatur, of the 
squadron blockaded in New London harbour, 

23* 



270 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [18l3. 

wrote to the navj department that, bejond all 
doubt, the British by some means obtained im- 
mediate intelligence of all his movements. To 
confirm this statement, he said that, after seve- 
ral nights of favourable weather, the report cir- 
culating through the town that an attempt would 
be made to get to sea, in the course of the even- 
ing two blue lights were burned on both points 
of the harbour's mouth. These " signals to the 
enemy," he continued, "had been repeated, and 
had been seen by twenty persons, at least, of the 
squadron." 

Upon the Federalists of Connecticut this 
story at once brought the charge of a guilty 
connivance with the enemy. So violent were the 
denunciations it excited against the popular 
party of the state, that one of the Connecticut 
members of Congress moved for a committee of 
investigation. But Calhoun, a prominent De- 
mocrat in the national legislature, thought the 
matter wholly unworthy of attention, and no in- 
quiry was made. The story had gained publi- 
city, however, and the extreme advocates of 
peace soon began to be stigmatized as " blue- 
light Federalists" — a term even yet occasionally 
employed by our politicians. 

During the winter, the blockade of New Lon- 
don was vigorously maintained. For the militia, 
at first called out to guard the more exposed 
points on the seaboard, regulars had been sub- 



1814.] STONINGTON BOMBARDED. 271 

stituted ; but early in tlie year 1814 they were 
again withdrawn, notwithstanding the remon- 
strances of Governor Smith. The consequence 
was, that, on the 7th of April, two hundred Bri- 
tish sailors and marines quietly entered the 
mouth of the Connecticut, and ascended to Say- 
brook and Brockway's Ferry, where, before any 
force could be assembled to oppose them, they 
destroyed more than two hundred thousand dol- 
lars worth of shipping, and then effected a safe 
retreat to the squadron. 

About sunrise on the 9th of August following, 
the inhabitants of Stonington were alarmed by 
the sudden appearance in their harbour of four 
heavily armed English ships of war. The only 
defence of the town was a slight breastwork, 
dignified by the name of fort, and covering 
two eighteen-pound and one six-pound cannon, 
mounted as field-pieces. To this battery the 
handful of Stonington militia repaired, having 
first sent all the non-combatants out of harm's 
way, and despatched messengers to New London 
for assistance. At eight o'clock the fleet opened 
a brisk cannonade and bombardment of the fort 
and town, under cover of which an ineffectual 
attempt was made to land. Maintaining a steady 
bombardment till midnight, the enemy, early the 
next morning, a second time attempted to land 
on the eastern side of the town, but were again 
repulsed with some loss. Meanwhile, the fleet 



272 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1814. 

had been reinforced by the arrival of an eigbteen- 
gun brig, which, opening a severe fire upon the 
fort, compelled the garrison to spike their guns 
and retire. But the neighbouring militia pre- 
sently assembling in force, the battery was again 
manned, and the brig in turn driven away badly 
damaged. Unable to effect a landing, the enemy 
renewed their bombardment of the town, which 
was maintained without intermission till the fol- 
lowing noon, when, having thrown more than 
sixty tons of metal upon shore, and lost about 
seventy-five men in killed and wounded, the 
squadron weighed anchor and put to sea. Of 
the gallant militia, not one was killed, and but 
six wounded ; and, although most of the houses 
of the town were injured, and some set on fire, 
only three were totally destroyed. 

What had been for two years an offensive war 
on the part of the United States, was now con- 
verted into one of defence, against an ''enemy" 
— in the language of President Madison — 
"powerful in men and money on the land and 
on the water," and who, " availing himself of 
fortuitous advantages," aimed, "with his undi- 
vided force, a deadly blow at our growing pros- 
perity, perhaps at our national existence." 

At this juncture, bills were brought into Con- 
gress to increase the regular army by conscrip- 
tion, and to authorize the enlistment of minors 
not less than eighteen years of age. 



1814.] HARTFORD CONVENTION. 273 

On 'receiving intelligence of the introduction 
of these bills, the Connecticut assembly, which 
was then in session, denounced them as uncon- 
stitutional, intolerably barbarous and oppressive. 
In the event of their passage, the governor was 
authorized, by a resolution adopted almost unani- 
mously, to call a special session of the assembly 
to provide for the protection of the rights of the 
citizens. 

But a few days after the passage of this reso- 
lution, a circular letter was received from the 
legislature of Massachusetts, proposing a con- 
vention of deputies from the several New Eng- 
land states, <' to deliberate upon the dangers to 
which they were exposed," and to devise and 
recommend such measures for their welfare and 
safety as would not be «' repugnant to their obli- 
gations as members of the national Union." 
Acceding at once to this proposition, the Con- 
necticut assembly appointed seven delegates to 
meet those of the other New England states at 
Hartford, on the 15th of December then fol- 
lowing. 

On the day and at the place appointed, the 
New England deputies, numbering in all twenty- 
six, assembled together, and proceeded to deli- 
berate with closed doors. After a session of 
twenty days they adjourned, having first adopted 
a report addressed to the legislatures which they 
represented. 



274 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1814. 

The tone and substance of this report, while 
they did indeed disappoint the desires and ex- 
pectations of a few extreme New England Fede- 
ralists, yet relieved the Democrats from the 
apprehensions in which they had indulged with 
regard to the objects and designs of the conven- 
tion, as well as fron the necessity of continuing 
to denounce its originators and members as 
plotters of secret treason and the disruption of 
the confederacy. 

According to their report, " the convention 
had proceeded to deliberate, first, as to relief 
against pressing dangers ; and, secondly, as to 
the means of future security. 

" The dangers pending over New England 
were twofold — dangers from the usurpation of 
the general government, dangers from the com- 
mon enemy. The power over the militia claimed 
for the general government the exclusive right 
of the president to decide on the existence of the 
constitutional emergencies for calling them into 
service, thus placing them, in fact, at his dispo- 
sal ; the delegating this power to officers of the 
regular army, for the apparent purpose of su- 
perseding the governors of the states and the 
other militia officers in their constitutional right 
to command; the filling up the ranks of the 
regular army by conscription ; the authorizing 
the enlistment of minors without the consent of 
their parents or guardians, thus invalidating 



1814.] REPORT OF CONVENTION. 275 

contracts, and overturning the parental authority 
existing under the laws of the state ; m all these 
measures the convention could see nothing but 
total disregard of the constitution, such as de- 
manded from the individual states firm and 
decided opposition. 

" Though acts of Congress in violation of the 
constitution were merely void, it did not seem 
consistent with the respect and forbearance due 
from a confederate state toward the general go- 
vernment, to fly at once, upon every infraction, 
to open resistance. Yet, in cases of dangerous 
and palpable infractions of the constitution, 
affecting the sovereignty of a state and the 
liberties of the people, it was the right and duty 
of the state to interpose its authority for their 
protection." Accordingly, the convention re- 
commended the several states represented there- 
in to await the final action of Congress on the 
conscription and minor enlistment bills, and, if 
they should be passed, to adopt such measures 
as would most effectually protect their own and 
their peoples' rights. 

Hitherto, continued the report, the New Eng- 
land states have for the most part, defended 
themselves. But, under existing circumstances, 
they would be unable to do so longer, unless the 
general government, which was bound to protect 
them, but had failed in its duty, should allow 
them a reasonable proportion of the weighty 



276 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1814. 

taxes tliey had contributed to the common fund. 
Such an appropriation was justly their due, and 
the states were recommended to make application 
for it to Congress. Should this application prove 
ineffectual, it was advised that a new convention 
should meet at Boston in the following June. 

To prevent the future recurrence of present 
evils, the convention proposed to amend the 
federal constitution by rendering the president 
ineligible for a second term ; by disqualifying all 
except native citizens to hold office ; by appor- 
tioning representatives and direct taxes accord- 
ing to the free population ; by limiting embargoes 
to sixty days ; and by requiring a two-thirds 
vote to admit new states, to interdict foreign 
intercourse, and to declare any but a defensive 
war. 

Having accepted this report, the legislatures 
of Connecticut and Massachusetts, in accordance 
with one of its recommendations, appointed com- 
missioners to proceed to Washington, and lay 
the proposed arrangement as to taxes before 
Congress. 

Pending the session of the convention, the 
bill for the enlistment of minors received the 
sanction of Congress. Immediately the Con- 
necticut assembly enacted a law, requiring the 
state judges to discharge, on habeas corpus, all 
minors enlisted without the consent of their 
parents or guardians, and subjecting to fine and 



1815.] PEACE CONCLUDED. 277 

imprisonment any person concerned in any such 
enlistment who should remove any such minor 
out of the state, so that he could not be thus 
discharged. 

Happily, at this juncture, when the state and 
federal authorities seemed to be on the eve of a 
collision, and before the commissioners of Con- 
necticut and Massachusetts could reach Wash- 
ington on their ungracious errand, intelligence, 
as cheering as it was unexpected, arrived to 
allay the dissensions that had assumed so serious 
an aspect. Peace had been concluded between 
Great Britain and the United States ; and, on 
the 17th February, 1815, the treaty which secured 
it was ratified by the president and senate. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Reviving effects of peace — Decline of the Federal party in 
Connecticut — " Toleration party" — Triumph of the " Tole- 
rationists" — Oliver Wolcott governor — Constitutional con- 
vention called — Constitution sanctioned by the people- 
Changes made by it — Disorganization of parties — Wolcott 
the first governor under the constitution — Is succeeded by 
Gideon Tomlinson — Charles H. Pond, the present executive 
— Statistics of education — Of benevolent and other institu- 
tions — Of religion — Agriculture — Manufactures — Commerce 
— Mineral resources of the state — Internal improvements — 
Banking capital — State debt — Population. 

By the people of Connecticut the return of 
peace was welcomed with almost extravagant 
outbursts of rejoicing. Political animosities were 

24 



278 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1816. 

suddenly deprived of their fierceness. All parties 
were thankful that a period of gloom had passed 
away, in which the impending danger of internal 
discord had been far more fearful than the war- 
like operations of an external foe. Along the 
streams, and in the numerous little harbours of 
the state, active preparations were visible for a 
return to the pleasing employments of peace. 
Vessels were brought from their hiding-places, 
and the river side and the sea-shore began again 
to be cheerful with the hum of reviving com- 
merce. Those manufactures called into life by 
the war, and which had introduced a new ele- 
ment of prosperity into the commonwealth, lan- 
guished, it is true, for a brief period after the 
restoration of peace ; but, fostered by the tariff 
of 1816, they soon sprang up again into fresh 
and vigorous existence. 

Having long since lost power as a national 
organization, the Federal party, weakened by 
internal dissensions, now began to be threatened 
with overthrow, even in Connecticut, its greatest 
stronghold. The opposition of its leaders to a 
protective tariff, and to the abolition of the 
church establishment which had existed since 
the planting of Connecticut, drew against them 
the entire strength of the Democratic party, 
backed by a large and increasing fraction of 
their own hitherto faithful adherents. To secure 
the material aid of this disaffected fraction, the 



1818.] TOLERATIONISTS. 279 

Democrats, at the election of 1816, brought for- 
ward, as their gubernatorial candidate, Oliver 
Wolcott, a moderate Federalist, a warm advocate 
of domestic manufactures, and the son and grand- 
son of two former governors. Known in the 
political annals of the state as the " Toleration 
Party," this new combination, even in its first 
eifort, exhibited formidable strength. Smith, 
the Federal incumbent, carried his re-election 
against Wolcott by a few hundred votes only, 
while in the assembly the opposition obtained a 
proportion of power hitherto unparalleled. 

Rapidly gathering strength, the "Toleration- 
ists," in 1817, achieved a signal triumph by the 
election of Wolcott. They also carried a ma- 
jority of the delegates to the popular branch of 
the assembly. But, retaining a preponderance 
of power in the council, the old line Federalists 
were thus enabled to retard, for a brief period, 
the changes which their opponents demanded. 

At the next general election, in April, 1818, 
the chief question in dispute between the two 
parties related to the formation of a state con- 
stitution. The republican character of the old 
colonial charter, obtained by Winthrop a cen- 
tury and a half previous, was remarkably attested 
by the fact that the state had existed under it so 
long, without any very general desire having 
-been expressed by the people for a constitution 
of their own framing. Advocating the necessity 



280 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1818. 

of such an instrument, the " Tolerationists" 
swept the state. Wolcott was re-elected go- 
vernor, and a majority chosen to the assembly 
in favour of a constitutional convention ; an act 
to authorize which was immediately passed. 

Meeting at Hartford in August, the conven- 
tion framed a constitution, which, in the follow- 
ing October, received the popular sanction. In 
its general features this instrument much re- 
sembled the colonial charter it superseded, upon 
which, in his moderating speeches to the assembly, 
Wolcott had bestowed many and well-merited 
eulogies. The most important changes it intro- 
duced were those for which the popular party 
had chiefly contended; the extension of the 
right of suffrage to all tax-payers and the abo- 
lition of the old religious establishment. 

From the year 1818 to the present time the 
history of Connecticut presents few points for 
consideration. The annals of peace, under a 
popular and enlightened government, are "short 
and simple," and they may be summed up in the 
brief sentence — the commonwealth prospered. 

As will have been seen, the Federal party 
was entirely broken up simultaneously with the 
adoption of the constitution. After that event 
the old party grounds appear to have been pretty 
generally abandoned, preparatory to that later 
array of conflicting opinions, the respective ad- 
herents of which became known as Whigs and 



1850.] STATISTICS OF EDUCATION. 281 

Democrats. The first governor under the con- 
stitution was Wolcott, who remained in ofiice 
until 1826, when he was succeeded by Gideon 
Tomlinson. The present executive is the vene- 
rable Charles H. Pond, a gentleman now past 
the scriptural limit of life, but who still retains 
a vigour and elasticity of mind and body which 
many younger men may be permitted to envy. 

Connecticut has been deservedly praised for 
the attention she has given to the subject of 
education. In 1852, the school-fund, whose 
origin has already been noticed, amounted to the 
sum of $2,049,482 ; although nearly $4,000,000 
of its proceeds had been previously distributed 
among the schools of the state. During the year 
mentioned, when the number of children between 
four and six years was about 95,000, the re- 
venue distributed amounted to $132,792,80. In 
addition to the numerous schools thus supported 
by the state, there are many private academies, 
three first-class colleges, two theological semi- 
naries, and one law and one medical school. The 
two latter, having respectively twenty-six and 
thirty-seven pupils, are attached to Yale College 
at New Haven. This college, the most nume- 
rously attended in the United States, and among 
the alumni of which are some of the most emi- 
nent divines, scholars, and statesmen of the 
country, in 1852 had four hundred and forty 
students, and fifty-one thousand volumes in its 

24* 



282 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1850. 

libraries. The Wesleyan University, founded in 
1831, is situated at Middletown. It has seven 
instructors, a library of fourteen thousand 
volumes, and about one hundred and twenty 
students. Trinity College, founded at Hartford 
in 1824, has thirteen instructors, seventy-nine 
students, and a library of fifteen thousand 
volumes. The two theological seminaries at 
New Haven and East Windsor have an average 
attendance of about sixty pupils. 

For her erring and unfortunate children, Con- 
necticut has manifested the same wise and bene- 
volent care as she has for the instruction of the 
virtuous, the healthy, and the sane. In 1851, 
an act was passed, and ten thousand dollars ap- 
propriated for the establishment of a state school 
for the instruction and reformation of juvenile 
offenders under the age of sixteen. At Hartford 
is the Retreat for the Insane, which receives a 
liberal contribution from the state. In the same 
beautiful city stands the American Asylum for 
the Deaf and Dumb. Established in 1817 by 
the Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, in conjunction with 
M. Laurent Clerc, a deaf mute, formerly an in- 
structor under the celebrated Abbd Sicard, this 
institution was the first of its kind in the United 
States. The average number of pupils at pre- 
sent is about two hundred. Appropriations are 
made for the benefit of their own citizens in this 
asylum, severally by Connecticut, Maine, New 



1850.] AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. 283 

Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, and South Carolina. 

Of the seven hundred and nineteen churches 
in Connecticut, in 1850, the different sects of 
Baptists owned 113 ; the Congregationalists, 
252 ; the Methodists, 178 ; the Episcopalians, 
100; the Universalists, 22; the Presbyterians, 
17 ; the Roman Catholics, 12. The rest were 
distributed among the various smaller denomina- 
tions. These give an average of one church to 
every five hundred and fifteen persons. Value 
of church property, $3,554,894. 

Much of the surface of Connecticut is hilly 
and rugged, being crossed by several ranges of 
low mountains. Between these ranges there are 
valleys and plains of greater or less extent ; and 
those on the river intervals especially of great 
agricultural capabilities. Wherever the soil can 
be tilled, it is generally made to yield the most 
it is capable of with our present system of cul- 
ture. The number of acres of land under culti- 
vation, in 1850, was 1,768,168 ; value of farm- 
ing implements and machinery, $1,892,541 ; of 
live stock, $7,467,490 ; of domestic manufac- 
tures, $192,252. The number of bushels of 
Indian corn raised, was 1,935,043 ; of wheat, 
41,762 ; of rye, 600,893 ; of oats, 1,158,738. 
The number of pounds of tobacco produced, was 
1,267,264; of butter, 6,498,119; of cheese, 
6,363,277. In addition to the great staples 



284 HISTORY OP CONNECTICUT. [1850. 

here mentioned, the smaller ones are abundantly 
produced ; although the north-western and east- 
ern portions of the state are better adapted to 
grazing than to grain. The value of animals 
slaughtered in 1850, was $2,202,266. 

Connecticut has long been celebrated for the 
itinerant vendors of her manufactures, who have 
travelled over our country in all directions. Her 
wooden clocks note the lapse of time in the re- 
motest settlements of our western states, and 
have of late years been exported even to Europe. 
Wooden, iron, copper, tin, and brass ware ; hats, 
boots, shoes, coaches, combs, axes, buttons, 
saddlery, paper, and agricultural and mecha- 
nical implements, are all largely manufactured. 
Though these wares are generally fabricated in 
small quantities by individuals with trifling capi- 
tal, yet the aggregate amount is great enough to 
place Connecticut among the first of the manu- 
facturing states. In the absolute amount of 
cotton and woollen goods produced, this little 
commonwealth is nearly equal to New York or 
Pennsylvania, and taking the diiference of popu- 
lation into consideration, she is greatly superior ; 
while she only ranks below Pennsylvania in the 
relative amount of iron manufactured. In 1850, 
the cotton manufacture of the state was carried 
on by one hundred and twenty-eight establish- 
ments, in which a capital of $4,219,200 was 
invested. The value of all the raw material was 



1850.] COASTING TRAI>E. 285 

$2,500,602; products, §4,257,522; opera- 
tives, 6185 ; moiithly wages, $82,743. In the 
woollen manufacture, there was a capital of 
$3,733,950, invested in one hundred and forty- 
nine establishments, consuming in the year raw 
material to the amount of $3,325,709, and pro- 
ducing an annual value of $6,465,216. The num- 
ber of operatives was 5488, receiving monthly 
wages amounting to $104,615. The capital in- 
vested in ninety-one iron works was $1,335,900; 
raw material consumed, $999,374 ; value of pro- 
ducts, $2,064,560; operations, 1464; monthly 
wages, $41,680. In addition to the establish- 
ments enumerated with the above, there were 
three thousand five hundred and forty-five other 
manufactories, producing annually $500 and 
upward. 

Carrying on an active coasting trade, Con- 
necticut has little foreign commerce, excepting 
with the "West Indies, that does not flow through 
New York and Boston. Her foreign exports, 
consisting principally of domestic manufactures, 
amounted, in 1852, to $506,174 ; overbalancing 
her imports during the same period, $111,499. 
The entire tonnage of the state was rated at 
125,085, of which 25,992, chiefly belonging to 
New London, was engaged in the whale fishery, 
and 8318 in the cod and mackerel fisheries ; 
number of vessels built, sixty-five, with an ag- 
gregate tonnage of 9035. 



286 HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. [1850. 

Of late, public attention has been considerably 
excited by the re-discovery, near Middletown, 
of a lead mine, which is thought to have been 
worked by the first Governor Winthrop. Inde- 
pendently of its richness in lead, the ore of this 
mine yields a heavy percentage of silver. Be- 
sides lead, the region around Middletown con- 
tains abundantly, zinc, cobalt, and copper, and 
companies are forming, with large capitals, to 
work the different mines. 

Connecticut has her full share of railways, 
connecting her principal towns with each other, 
and with New York and Boston, In January, 
1853, there was a grand total of six hundred and 
forty-seven miles in operation, and one hundred 
and ninety-eight in course of construction. 

The banking capital of Connecticut, in 1852, 
was $12,509,808, distributed among fifty- three 
institutions. Her state debt is $91,212 ; ordi- 
nary annual expenses, exclusive of debt and 
schools, $115,000 ; assessed value of property, 
in 1850, $119,088,672. 

The number of representatives to which Con- 
necticut is entitled by the present apportionment, 
is four. By the census of 1790, her population 
was 238,141 ; by that of 1840, it was 309,978 ; 
and by that of 1850, 370,791. But it is not in 
her own census tables that evidence is to be 
sought of the numerical increase of the active, 
enterprising, and ingenious sons of Connecticut. 



1850.] POPULATION. 287 

These only show the number of the more sedate, 
stay-at-home people. As has been seen in the 
com^se of this history, a tide of emigration early 
set out from her borders. Since the Kevolution, 
that tide has been full and continuous ; bearing 
with it, to all parts of the Union, not itinerant 
tradesmen and shrewd adventurers only, but a 
goodly portion of the sober, sensible. God-fear- 
ing population of the state. Erom these emi- 
grants — the founders of new settlements and of 
new states — have risen leading merchants, law- 
yers celebrated for their ability, and statesmen 
distinguished in the councils of the nation. And 
more than all, wherever the outflowing popula- 
tion of Connecticut has borne itself, it has, while 
reclaiming the wilderness and laying the founda- 
tions of towns and cities, constantly evinced that 
intelligent regard for the education of youth, 
which forms a distinctive feature in the character 
of the people from which it sprung. 



THE END. 



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